Who the heck is Corneille E.N. Ewango?

Who is Corneille E.N. Ewango? (Updated January 02, 2006)

This post is for the benefit of participants who have completed the Africa Quiz 2005 at the Global Voices Online - Blog Africa project site. We hope that you enjoyed taking the short quiz on Africa and will follow the global dialogue on African affairs in the blogosphere for 2006. Following is the text of my original question entry for the Africa Quiz 2005 that contains detailed information and links about the correct answer.

QUESTION

What is the name of the African botanist and conservationist who was the recipient of the 2005 Goldman Environmental Prize for courageous acts to preserve endangered wildlife and plant species in the Okapi Faunal Reserve?

Hint: The Okapi Faunal Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in a country that is home to 50% of Africa’s tropical moist rainforests.

Wangari Maathai - Kenya

Sama S. Banya - Sierra Leone

Corneille E.N. Ewango - Democratic Republic of Congo

Jef Dupain - Democratic Republic of Congo


ANSWERS

A. Wangari Maathai - Incorrect
Wangari Maathai is the internationally renowned Kenyan environmentalist, activitst, government minister, and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Wangari Maathai did receive a Goldman Environmental Prize in 1991.

B. Sama S. Banya - Incorrect
Sama S. Banya, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation in the government of Sierra Leone, was awarded a Birdlife Conservation Achievement Award in March 2004 for his work to help preserve precious bird and wildlife sanctuaries in his home country and his work in facilitating the signing and ratification of several international conservation agreements.

C. Corneille E.N. Ewango - Correct
Corneille E.N. Ewango, a former staff member of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, was responsible for the botany program in the Okapi Faunal Reserve in the eastern D.R.C. from 1996 to 2003. The reserve covers more than 3 million acres and is home to the Mbuti people (indigenous pygmies) and to 13 primate species, elephants, and animals found nowhere else on Earth, including the Okapi (a forest giraffe).

Amidst the chaos of two brutal wars, economic and political corruption, and the rampant resource exploitation that took place for more than a decade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Corneille Ewango was able to save the reserve’s precious herbarium collection, computers, research and data on 380,000 trees and plants___ and his own life. Working together with only 30 junior staff members who did not flee the fighting, Ewango was able to mobilize more than 1500 local residents of the Ituri forest region to stand up against marauding militias who were raping and murdering and bandits who were illegally exploiting and exporting the Congo’s gold, diamonds, coltan, and timber.

Corneille E.N. Ewango was awarded the 2005 Goldman Environmental Prize and a no-strings attached grant of USD$ 125,000.00 together with 4 other recipients in April 2005. He is due to complete his graduate studies in Tropical Botany at the University of Missouri – St. Louis this year.

D. Jef Dupain - Incorrect
Jef Dupain is a primatologist working for the African Wildlife Foundation famous for his work with the bonobo species, a member of the Great Apes family and very close relative of the chimpanzee. Jef’s work with the endangered bonobos of the central African rainforests dates back to 1994 when he set out for the very remote Lomako Forests of the Congo River Basin. After the outbreak of war in 1997, bonobo populations in the region were devastated by the civil unrest, burgeoning human populations and loss of habitat, bushmeat trade for the illegal mining and timber extraction, and the illegal global trade in endangered wildlife.

Bonobos are the closest relative of humans in the Great Apes family, sharing 98.4% of our genetic makeup. Unlike their more aggressive chimpanzee cousins, bonobos are noted for their docile natures and matriarchal societies. The Bonobos’ similarities to humans has long been noted by the indigenous peoples (pygmies) of the Congo Basin. Their legends tell of bonobos showing men what foods were available in the forest to eat.

Jef Dupain returned to the Lomako Forest region of the D.R.C. in 2002 to continue his work studying and protecting the bonobos. The award-winning documentary The Ghosts of Lomako features his recent work with these mysterious and precious primates. Jef Dupain is presently chief coordinator of the AWF Congo Heartlands project.

Technorati: Africa Global Voices environment Congo Kenya Sierra Leone

Blogging and the world of business

UPDATE January 03, 2006:
Attention to participants of the Blog Africa "Africa Quiz 2005"

Please follow this link for detailed information about the Congolese botanist and conservationist Corneille E.N. Ewango. The April 22, 2005 post below "Blogging and the world of businesses" unfortunately contained links to two blogs that are no longer online. That problem has been fixed today. Thanks for participating in the Africa Quiz 2005 and we hope that it was fun.

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Original Post April 22, 2005

I want to begin this posting today by saying to some of my fellow blogger buddies that I am truly humbled and terribly proud of the work you are doing. In the past 30 years (Wow! Has it been that long??) that I have been involved with electrical engineering and the ICT fields we have seen a lot of things come and go. I am amazed many times at the creativity and brilliance I see pouring out of people who are publishing online and their willingness to share information and knowledge and all kinds of stuff with other blog authors and their reader audience. To this day many tech purists continue to ignore the power of these simple web publishing tools (blog software) albeit at their own peril. There are between 9 and 10 million weblogs out there, 40,000 new ones per day.

I appreciate the comments saying thanks for my encouragement, but it is I and many others in the tech field and other professions who must say thanks to you. Some of us have waited for this explosion of creativity and collaboration using simple tech tools for a very long time. Bravo to you.

Now in my little sector of the Blogosphere (can’t cover the whole thing, it’s growing too fast!!) I have been paying particular attention to the laidies, not to say that the guys aren’t doing good work ‘cause many of you are, but the women are just moving like Gazelles. Again bravo to the women, it’s about time that you left the boyz behind in the dust. Go on girlz.

Kenya Hudson who has recently returned to blogging from what must be a really busy schedule posted a nice morsel the other day that has important value and I plan to build upon some of what she could only state briefly. The same goes for Carine in a brief article she has done on Corneille E.N. Ewango, winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize 2005 for the work he has done at the Okapi Faunal Reserve in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Prize for Peace 2005 laureate, received this coveted prize for grassroots environmental work in 1991. Africa in many ways is still in a frontier stage, underdeveloped and working desperately for engagement from the world of global business, not just begging for humanitarian and development aid. In recent history no continent, no nation, has been able to fulfill the wants and needs and ambitions of its peoples with just handouts and loans from the IMF or World Bank and the like. None.

Now what does this have to do with blogs and business? Well, read the special cover feature of the upcoming May 2, 2005 issue of BusinessWeek magazine: Blogs Will Change Your Business to get an idea about the shakeup blogs and bloggers are causing in corporate America and soon to arrive in Europe. Then think to yourself how this might apply to businesses in emerging markets i.e. the African continent, Asia, South America. If you are interested in the world of business this BW feature article could be very useful for you.

I receive the BusinessWeek Insider email newsletter for years now and a link to this special preview article was included in today’s BW email. However, I first discovered the news about the BusinessWeek cover story at Amy Gahran’s Contentious blog. You can learn quite a bit about blogging at her place and from her readers (see comments). Another good place to learn about business blogs is at the Business 2.0 online magazine’s B2Day. Despite the 1,000’s of information feeds I receive about technology every month and year the first place I learned about weblogs was by reading a February 2002 article at the Business 2.0 site.

I’ve recently added the Nairobi, Kenya financial blogger bankelele to my blogroll and the Timbuktu Chronicles business blog has been on my roll for ages now. Check these folks out when you find the time. The next time someone tries to tell you that blogging is just a waste of time and nobody is earning money with blogs, just smile. Smile like a fox on Wall Street.

Covering your rear-end in the Blogosphere

Ethan Zuckerman of the My Heart's in Accra blog has an interesting article on using encryption technology to protect yourself online titled A Technical Guide to Anonymous Blogging. If you find yourself in one of those repressive regimes where speaking out can land you in jail, get you killed, tortured, or worse then this article is worth a read. Also check out Ethan's new blog publishing experiment using Wordpress at his new URL here. The last time Ethan tried out a new web publishing tool it did not work out so well, but if he get's into trouble with the new software this time he can always seek help from Wordpress afficiendos like Carine or Amy.

Ethan also wrote an article titled the Subtle Business of Software Localization. This article should be interesting for those of you who use web-based digital image storage and management services from Flickr or Yahoo! and are wondering why your images don't look the same online vs. how they are displayed on your PC monitor. Note that Ethan is cross-posting (or bridging?) between his new blog address and the old blog address at Harvard.

We'll keep it brief today because yes we are still working on the technology problems described earlier. Sometimes technology can be a BIG PAIN IN THE YOU KNOW WHAT!!! Fortunately we know how to keep a cool head in technical emergencies.

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

As I pointed out in my last posting, I am attempting to fix a problem with one of my Microsoft desktop applications. What at first appeared to be a minor bug has turned out to be not so minor after all. Fortunately it is a problem with my "old baby" and I refuse to put her out to pasture just because I have a new extremely hot Dell PC. I shall retire the "old baby" with respect and honor and in good working condition as soon as I nail down this pesky little software failure.

Should be back in action in the Blogosphere any day now. Oh yeah, I refuse to accept any help from the boyz in the lab. I can fix this baby all by myself, thank you. (I hope??).

"Tonto, hand me that hammer over there please. Yeah, the BIG ONE."

Living with Refugees + General Updates

We're gonna be away from the blog for a couple of days (or more) because I have to troubleshoot a particularly pesky little problem with a software application. First Tonto and I are going after the little critter (bug) 'cause we can do anything that these young tech experts around us think they can do, and we can do it better. If we mess anything up, then we might ask the youngsters for help.

"Fur and Feathers are Flying" over at Le Salon of News and Thought because somebody (Brian) brought up the "G Word" in reference to Rwanda. It's getting kinda hot over there so Tonto and I are gonna keep a low profile until things calm down. All kinds of nationalities have joined in the fray, including a Rwandan blogger. Maybe The Malua needs to serve some refreshments to his guests in Le Salon to cool 'em off? Lemonade anyone? Tea?

Kenya Hudson of the Ambiguous Adventure blog is back after a (very) long pause, so you should keep an eye out for her upcoming postings. Welcome back, Ms. Hudson. There is also some good writing to be found over at Wambui's Snapshots of New Orleans. In my opinion she is doing very interesting legal work dealing with crime and punishment issues in the U.S.A., so do stop by and have a look at some of her excellent journal entries.

Oh yeah, CNN did air Sorious Samura's Living with Refugees documentary this past weekend here in Europe although the scheduled time slot got changed due to Prince Charles and Camilla's wedding. If you missed this excellent 1 hour program depicting Samura's 3 week journey and stay with a family escaping the killing fields of Darfur and their nightmarish experiences at the UNHCR Breijing Camp in Chad, then try to get your hands on the video or demand that it be shown again to the world by writing to your Minister of Communications or something. Here is another account of life in the camp published by journalist Monika Wawrzyniak on April 6th.

Riveting documentary journalism on the atrocities in Sudan and the abuse and incompetency of local and international "officials" who are supposed to be helping people who have escaped from what Kofi Anan described as a "living Hell". A must-see video for anyone who gives a damn about the victims of war and mass murder. Adam and his family are now living at the Tréguine Refugee Camp in Chad thanks to the tireless efforts of Sorious Samura. Neither camp is like the one that the IFRC describe in this little PR story from 2004. Living with Refugess. No blood, no Janaweed militias on camelback, and a Happy Ending (sort of).

See y'all in a couple of days or so. Ciao.

The Funeral of Pope John Paul II

Today I joined with millions of people around the world in the privelage to witness the live TV coverage of the Requiem Mass for Pope John Paul II, a truly historical event in my opinion. I was so moved by what I saw and heard this morning here in Europe that I felt compelled to write just one more piece about this great religious leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Let there be no doubt about it, live broadcast and satellite television remains a very powerful communication medium on Planet Earth despite the increasing gains of the Internet.

Any funeral is a sad occaisson and this one particularly so as one could witness over the last several days the outpouring of grief from the millions of people who were part of his flock and from those of us who respected John Paul II’s leadership and concern for the world. As I stood or sat and watched the funeral I couldn’t help but be impressed by the gathering of thousands and thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, and the 200+ world leaders and dignataries from more than 80 countries, and religious leaders from around the world. Of course the images of the beautiful and historic Vatican itself is enough to impress all by itself, but to see it filled with so much humanity was a powerful experience for many.

Today at the Vatican many leaders from the Four Corners of the Earth were gathered together to mourn this great man. Presidents and prime ministers from 5 continents: from the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, France, Ghana, Turkey, Afghanistan, Italy, the U.S.A., Iran, Syria, Brazil, Australia, Jordan, Spain… and on and on were there. Many of them mortal enemies standing side-by-side to mourn this man (or at least to be seen on international TV). Kings and queens and other royalty and world dignataries seated side-by-side. Leaders of the world’s great religions who throughout history have waged wars against one another that were so bloody and horrible it is improper to describe them here, gathered together to offer their condolences and prayers to John Paul II. They didn’t look so mighty and powerful today with their heads bowed in sorrow against the backdrop of the ancient Vatican surrounded by that sea of humanity from around the world mourning for the Pope, did they?

I was wondering to myself as I watched if they really understood as leaders of our world what kind of responsibility they carry for all of us everywhere on this Earth? ...for the weak as well as the strong, the poor as well as the rich, the sick as well as the healthy? If these political and business and religious leaders are committed to the meaning of faith and prayer and the recognition of good in all of humanity, as the Pope tried so hard to show us with his own life and service to God?

Looking at the faces of all of those people today gathered in St. Peter’s Square to mourn the passing of the Pope helped me to re-confirm not only my own faith in God (which gets a little shakey at times, I’ll admit it) but also in humanity itself and especially in those people who so desperately need our help. I hope that I can hold onto that conviction real tight until my own passing, and I hope that at least some of our world leaders present at the Vatican today were moved in similar ways and better understand these very important facts:

FACTS: Humanity is crying out for peace and justice and dignity so that people can get on with the important business of building a better world for everyone. The majority of people around the world want to live in peace and be good neighbors and friends, to be united in our humanity and not be divided by war and violence for political gains or misused through greed and corruption for money and other material wealth.END FACTS

If our leaders and we ordinary citizens of the world can keep these important facts always in the forefront of our thoughts and our actions, humankind will truly make it to the Kingdom of Heaven someday. And if we fail to do so, we will all most certainly perish from this Earth.

Those are some impressions I come away with after watching the Pope’s requiem funeral mass. May John Paul II rest in peace under the glorious Dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral for as long as a thousand generations, so that others who follow us may come to learn about his great works in our time in the history of humankind on this Earth.

Here are some additional online resources about Pope John Paul II’s funeral for my readers:

1. BBC News online coverage of the funeral
2. BBC News photo essays of the funeral
3. BBC News Timeline of the Popes throughout history: note that the 3 African Popes are mysteriously missing in the timeline but are noted in this BBC article. Also reference comments made to my earlier posting on John Paul II. My readers are the “The First to Know What’s Up”.
4. BBC's thoughts and views about the Pope from around the world
5. Google News links to online media coverage of the Pope’s funeral

CNN’s coverage was so lousey today they don’t even get an honorable mention. Somebody oughta tell the CNN U.S. reporters they need to shut up when a requiem mass is in progress and stop trying to score career points. At least Christiane Ammanpour knew when to shut up and when to talk. CNN needs a shakeup from the top down. Bring back Ted Turner now.

Global Voices Online bloggers featured at BBC News Online

I was doing a little web research today for upcoming postings I'm writing about Darfur (that's right, I haven't forgotten). I also wanted to post a Media Alert for my readers re: award-winning Sierra Leonean journalist and documentary filmmaker Sorious Samura's latest work titled Living with Refugees . Samura is famous for two of his earlier documentaries Cry Freetown and Living with Hunger which have aired on various TV networks around the globe. So as I was preparing for my next blockbuster posting what do I come across? This Breaking News Story for April 06, 2005 at BBC News Online.

That's right! The crew over at Harvard's Berkman Center (Ethan, Rebecca, Ory,) who collaborate on the group blog Global Voices Online have hit paydirt by getting a frontpage feature link at BBC News Online today. Now this may not be such a big deal for Rebecca MacKinnon of Rconversation and NKZone being that she is a former CNN Bureau Chief for Asia and all, but for Ethan Zuckerman (My Heart's in Accra ) and Harvard graduate student Ory Okolloh (Kenyan Pundit ) this should be well, really important. At least I think it is really important.

I am delighted that they received this mainstream media (MSM) press coverage from such a respected organization as BBC News Online. Congratulations folks. As for my regular readers I told you before to pay close attention to the blogs in my blogroll, not to my postings. This BBC article oughta beef up the online traffic to certain blog authors writing about Africa and other interesting regions of the world considerably. I wonder who has thought to track and record the traffic statistics?

While I am on the subject of Bloggers and the fear they are creating out there in the world at large, you should check out this April 4th article at BBC Programmes Click Online titled Blogging from East to West. Still think blogging is a leisure pasttime of an internet-saavy elite of white males living and working in the West?

Please watch Sorious Samura's documentary if you can find the time this weekend at CNNI (Europe) on Sunday, April 10th. Readers from the U.K., U.S., some African nations (with DsTV) and elsewhere may have already seen an airing of the documentary but if not then check your local TV listings. CNN's Christiane Ammanpour has a special feature titled "Return to Darfur" airing soon also but I cannot find anything about it on the (poorly designed) CNN website.

Here is an excerpt from Insight News TV about "Living with Refugees":

Adam has 2 wives, 8 children, no money and all his friends have been murdered. Sorious meets Adam at the Chad/Sudan border where he has been living on handouts - but he's outstayed his welcome. Even though he doesn't know how far it is, he's heading for a UN refugee camp further to the west in Chad. He agrees Sorious can follow his family on this journey. "You have come all this way to tell our story, you are our brother."

Never before has someone filmed an exodus of people in this way. As the journey progresses more refugees join the group – there's safety in numbers. Sorious is exhausted and cannot keep up. He follows their methods of survival, digging dry riverbeds for water and eating only once. Sorious speaks to Adam about what happened in Darfur, he breaks down "Please don't make me remember what happened, it's just too much."

Pope John Paul II Dies

I, like so many millions of people around the world, am deeply saddened to see His Holiness Pope John Paul II preparing to leave us behind. Whether one is Catholic or not, whether one agreed with the Pope on religious and social and global issues or not, one had to respect this man for his conviction to his faith in God and in humankind.

Pope John Paul II has done his job for God and for all of us on Earth, and now it seems that it is his time to go. My sympathies go out to the faithful of the Roman Catholic Church around the world in your time of great sadness, and to people in the world who looked upon him as a good and strong leader for all of us who believe and want to believe, in God.

Go with God, Pope John Paul II, in Peace.

Update April 03:

A few hours after publishing my brief posting above Pope John Paul II died. Although many of us are sad to see him go we must also be relieved to see his physical suffering come to an end. It is fascinating to watch on TV the outpouring of emotion from around the world for this great spiritual leader and to be able to observe the ceremonies and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.

I noticed something last night in a comment made by of one of the zillions of TV commentators covering the story of the Pope's death, and that is that there was a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church about 1500 years ago who came from Africa. Help me out here (religion experts and historians) who was this Pope and where did he come from?

As this blog is supposed to be focused on Africa, it was nice to find this little Q&A article at BBC Wolrd News online about Pope John Paul II's legacy to Africa.

Congolese Bloggers of Note

I am still in the midst of our Stategic Plan as outlined in my March 17th posting Wir machen eine Pause but I could not resist making a brief mention about two young people from the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C., formerly Zaire). Actually, there are many more people I have discovered lately who are doing excellent work in the Blogosphere but I want to start with these two first.

The blog titled The Salon of News and Thought is designed and authored by Ali (aka The Malau) who in addition to holding down a full-time job back in Ohio U.S.A. is providing news and commentary on issues that affect Africa and the world. I've watched him work online in the wee hours of the morning (there is a 7 hour time differential between Germany and Ohio) to get articles out to his blog. It is worth your time to pay a visit to "Le Salon" to see what's up. His latest piece on the new Draft Consitution of the D.R.C. is a must read for anyone interested in learning about the political processes at work in one of Africa's most important and also most neglected nations: the Congo (excluding Congo-Brazzaville).

The second blog of note is titled The Exiled Afrikan designed and authored by Carine who like her protogeé Ali hails from the D.R.C. Carine lives and studies on the other side of the Atlantique in London, England and she is yet another hard-working young woman in the Blogosphere covering a variety of topics of interest inside and outside of Africa. Unlike Ali of course she has that "woman's touch" as she approaches and discusses certain topics and it is interesting to juxtaposition the writings of the two. Both authors help to enrich my knowledge of Africa and how Africans view the world that we all live in. Here is Carine's piece on the new Draft Constitution of the D.R.C. Carine also writes about technology subjects and is often busy with the software coding and scripting of her Wordpress powered blog. She considers herself a "low-ranking Nerd" but in reality she is much sharper about technology than she admits (online) which delights me to no end. I am and have always been interested in and supportive of women working in the field of science and technology, but that's another story for another day.

One of the biggest thrills for me is to be able to read and communicate online with Carine and Ali and gain insights into the thoughts and ideas of people from "Francophone Afrique" in a way that I cannot get by reading second-hand and third-hand reports from various other sources. There are people from Francophone African countries around me here in Germany but they are not writing and speaking out about global issues like these two unfortuantely.

My French language skills are rather weak and both Ali and Carine are writing in excellent English so that is a real "bonbon" for us "Je ne sais what?" Franglais speakers.UPDATE March 30th: I have removed from the original version of this posting my vicious backhanded attack against the French. However, I reserve the right in all future postings to fire away at the French at will. I just do not like these.....

Now as I was saying there are more young writers (and some not so young anymore) that I would love to point out today but we have decided to post little bits of info at a time to this blog for awhile. Tonto and I are very nervous this week 'cause we are expecting our new baby and we have to get ready with everything for the arrival. Should be here anyday now, coming all the way from Texas and we are just sitting on pins-and-needles over here.

Update March 30th: She is here, our new baby is here!! Took a quick look at her yesterday over in the nursery (the Lab). Beautiful, great lines and a smart hardware design and construction. Fast engine, very fast. Can't wait to give her a final tuning and then take her out for a Spin on the Net. Thanks Michael (Dell).

...a word from your local missionary

You didn't think I was gonna let you go that easy right before Easter, did you?? Nah, never.

What would have happened back in the 16th Century if the explorers, merchants, and missionaries were able to blog information back home from Africa, the Americas, and Asia? It would have been even more disastrous than what history has already shown us, that's what.

Even more interesting, what would have happened if the indigenous peoples of these lands could have comunicated with one another (over the Net) that some invaders had just showed up with boats and guns and swords and some cheap glass beads?? We might have had a whole 'nother deal going down on Earth today, oder? Or maybe we would just have a mirror image of the same bad deal, or worse.

Meet Sahel Steve of the blog Voice in the Desert and Keith Smith of Under the Acacias. And as an extra-special added attraction just for the Easter Holiday check out Keith's photography of the Fulani people of Burkina Faso and his other photo sets at Flickr. Two modern day missionaries doing good things for the people of Africa from what I can see and read on their blogs.

Prayers (from Ingrid) and pictures of Africa (from Keith) for Easter 2005. What more could one ask from the Old Eagle at Jewels in the Jungle? Happy Easter, folks. Thanks for stopping by.

An Easter Message for 2005 plus...

For all of my readers and blogger buddies who are fortunate enough to be able to celebrate the Easter Holiday with family and friends, I hope that you have a fine weekend and plenty of time to thank God for all of the blessings bestowed upon you and others. That goes for all of you who are not around family during these high holy days of the Christian faith as well.

Nowhere in the Christian Bible (or in any religion's Book of Faith) does it say that following the path of rightousness will be an easy sojourn. As a matter of fact I think it says just the opposite. Nonetheless I hope that many of us pray in earnest for guidance, and peace on Earth, and the courage to overcome our many fears so that we may do better to help others in need, no matter their faith or race or nationality or whatever.

Here is a nice little message from the New York Newsday God Squad team, the Rabbi Marc Gellman and Msgr. Thomas Hartman. I also found a nice little explanation of how the Date of Easter has been calculated over the centuries from the U.S. Naval Observatory.

I know that I should just leave it at that, but I cannot resist bringing you up-to-date on the latest "Crusade" by the infidels out in California in the YAHOO! camp. Just when we bloggers thought that we had everything under control concerning our online communication tech toolbox YAHOO! decides to do this and this and this. I hear they are rounding out the assault on Google and MSN (Microsoft) by bumping up the free YAHOO! Mail storage capacity to 1GB next month to boot.

And you thought there was no such thing as a free lunch anymore. Now if we could just get them to drop the (unwanted) advertising stuff we might just be on a roll here.

Update: Ooops! Had to go back and correct the spelling on the word "infidel". Hope that I have it right now. Hat tip to the brave bloggers in Iraq featured in this USA Today article "Iraqis enjoy new freedom of expression on Web journals".

The Red Lake Reservation Massacre

Many of my readers from around the world have no doubt seen or heard about the terrible massacre of young high school students, a teacher, a security officer, and two senior citizens by a deranged teenager on the Native American reservation at Red Lake, Minnesota. It is yet another tragic reminder to the people of the United States of America that we have some serious, serious problems with gun violence in our own country and that the time is long overdue to pass and enforce laws that severely restrict access to and use of firearms by ordinary citizens. Our Constitution does not guarantee ordinary citizens the right to bear arms and blow each other’s heads off because somebody has had a bad day. That is not what the authors of the 2nd Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution meant, or is it?

I’m certain for many of us (Americans) this rampage of murder and violence is sad, painful, and disgraceful. It is especially tragic and sad for the people of the Chippewa nation who live in and around the beautiful Red Lake area in the State of Minnesota. We as a nation are many times far too eager to point out and criticize the violence in other societies around the world without first reviewing how violent our own cities, small towns, and sovereign lands of our own native peoples have become over the past decades. As the President and his administration are focusing on the War on Terror abroad they had better make damn sure they don’t take their eyes off the ball regarding violent crime and law and order at home.

In order to supplement the MSM (mainstream media) sources for news on this story, I thought it would be nice to share with you other sources I read from today. The first is from an online news and information portal owned and operated by Native Americans themselves named Indian Country Today. Here is the link to an article written by the staff journalist David Melmer. As you read down through the article you will note that the community of Red Lake is no stranger to turmoil and violence. I would bookmark the site Indian Country Today for future reference and to learn more about how Native Americans view life today on the continent.

I found a good article with photos about Red Lake at the Grand Forks Herald online. The Herald’s staff writer Stephen Lee leads into his story with words that aptly describe the natural beauty and wonders of “Indian Country” in America’s Far North Woods:

“An eagle soared high overhead as sage smoke drifted northwest over a circle of hundreds of people gathered at noon…” and he continues further down in the article with “…many of them craned their necks and shaded their eyes against the noonday sun to the watch the bird, sacred to Indians.”

And for you budding online citizen journalists (bloggers) and pro journalists alike out there who think that you can just march onto the sovereign territory of Native Americans and do what you like with your cameras and tape recorders I would have you pay very close attention to this article by Joshua Freed of the Associated Press titled “Journalists covering Red Lake shooting find different rules”. Here are brief excerpts from his story featured in the Duluth News Tribune:

“Police in this Indian reservation town have set strict limits on the journalists trying to cover the nation’s deadliest school shooting since 1999…” and it goes on to say “Reporters and photographers were coralled in the parking lot of the reservation jail on Tuesday…”.

Well, so much for freedom of the press and the 1st Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution. This is Indian Country (paleface) and the Tribe calls the shots on this land. Sometimes we (Americans) forget that, don’t we now? That should slowdown the hungry media herd in the United States for awhile so that these people can come to terms with this tragedy in their own traditional ways.

Wir machen eine Pause

My Goodness! What’s going on over at Blogger’s Tech Farm? This application hasn’t been running right for days. Get it together guys (and girls). Darn.
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Tonto and I have decided that we have reached an important “breakpoint” with our blog Jewels in the Jungle. This means that if we don’t get some other very important work done that has been piling up for months things are going to start breaking down all over the place around us here.

Therefore, we have come up with a 5-point Strategic Plan for our blog:

1. Reduce the number of postings for a while and speak up (write) only when we have something very important to say or share. This of course will not work.

2. Clean up our room and change our pajamas (just kidding). Reduce the work backlog and complete all major technology-related tasks and security issues that we have been putting off until tomorrow. The Net is getting dangerous! The time to lockdown the fort and upgrade our network defenses is Now. This will take a while and cost a lot but it will be worth it. I suggest you review your own IT security as well, particularly the part that connects to the Internet.

3. Think about where we would like to go with this blogging experiment in the near future and review our original plan (what plan?) to see how we got so far off track. Find the problem(s), fix them, and get back into the groove as soon as possible. This means we will be studying other people’s blogs and reading what the real experts in the field have to say and then we will be back “Loaded for Bear”.

4. Get help with our writing skills and character development, ‘cause we need it. This could be “Mission Impossible” but let’s see what happens. Maybe we should hire somebody to author our postings? (Hire 'em cheap, of course).

5. Get (free) psychological counseling for starting a blog in the first place.

So, that’s our New Strategic Plan. We will be paying close attention to our favorite blog authors in the meantime and making trouble in their Comments Section as usual. Of course we will continue to be available (off-blog) for our fellow blogging buddies and some readers. Always at your service as long as it don’t cost us anything.

We thank our readers and fellow blog authors for being so supportive of our humble efforts over the past 10 months and promise to be back up-to-speed ASAP. In the meantime, give ‘em heck out there and keep the bad guys on the run!

TONTO: “Man, we got passed over again at the Annual Bloggies Awards for 2005. Not even an Honorable Mention. Nothing!”

BRE: “What? How could that happen? What about all of those fake nominations we sent in? Do you think we were ignored and passed over just because we’re black??”

TONTO: “What you mean We, black man?”

Ciao for now folks.

Is it CeBIT Time Again??

Yep. It's CeBIT 2005 in Deutschland which means that about a half million idiots like me are focused on the latest and greatest technology gadgets from about 6,300 exhibitors all claiming to be the "world's leading technology company" in their respective fields...all chomping at the bit to get your money. Well, a handful of the companies make it worth the trip and we don't have to worry about finding a hotel down in Hannover (the correct German spelling, 2 n's not 1 n).

So, this gives me a much needed break from posting to my blog and an opportunity to see what's up with other "abnormal" people working with technology. You can read all about the show in this eWeek article, and note the little treat in the sidebar titled "Webloggers' Influence Cause Need for Regulation" by Chris Nolan ( a blog author by the way). I'm tellin' you the "Federales" are on to us all over the planet and they're gonna start crackin' down hard. Direct orders from the big dogs in the global publishing and electronic media business and nervous despots and dictators in various countries around the world.

Tonto and I will be back in the Blogosphere sometime next week (we hope) with some new ideas and tech tools and gadgets to share with you... like TV studio-grade video streaming tools for your blog and stuff like that. Really dangerous stuff to put into the hands of the "slobbering mob crying for blood" as some nervous journalists and media critics like to refer to us. In the meantime, keep firing away fellow blog authors 'cause I think we got the bad guys on the run. Ciao for now.

International Women's Day 2005

Today is the worldwide celebration of International Women’s Day, an event that all too often goes totally unnoticed by men out there (Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you buddy! You with that dumb expression written across your face).

Now anyway as I was sayin’, today is International Women’s Day and this celebration has been around for quite some time, since 1911 to be exact. There were a whole bunch of events and protests and marches organized by women in different parts of the world dating back to the 1800’s that layed the groundwork for this celebration of women’s rights and contributions to HUMANKIND, not just MANKIND, but contributions for all human beings.

Two of my favorite bloggers, Ingrid and Mshairi, have got the day covered in their postings and if you call yourself a modern, well-informed, member of the male human species then trot on over to their blogs and checkout what they have written for today. I’ve added a couple of links from sites I use to monitor news and information on women’s rights and issues for my readers as well. If you take the time to read some of this over the next several days and weeks you may come to realize that International Women’s Day is not some joke. The terrible plight of women and girls around the world has never been a laughing matter and it is especially serious and dire for them in these days and times we are living.

Following are two of my favorite “quotes of the day” borrowed from Mshairi's 1st posting. She is one of the many hard-working and outstanding women writers out there in the Blogosphere.

“African women in general need to know that it's O.K. for them to be the way they are - to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence.”
Dr. Wangari Maathai – 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

“If women want any rights more than they's got, why don't they just take them, and not be talking about it.”
Sojourner Truth (1797-1893) – former American slave, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist

Here is a link to the famous “Aint I a Woman” speech Sojourner Truth delivered in 1851 at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio U.S.A. Here is a link to her narratives and history from the University of Minnesota’s Voices from the Gaps – women writers of color project.

Ingrid’s Intl. Women’s Day posting “2 Wheels of a Chariot”
Mshairi’s Intl. Women’s Day postings: Nr.1 and Nr.2
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United Nations Development Fund for Women UNIFEM-CSW site
UNIFEM’s Noeleen Heyzer commemorating Intl. Women’s Day 2005
U.N. official homepage for International Women’s Day 2005
UNESCO’s project 20 Films to Celebrate Intl. Women’s Day 2005

Have a nice day, Ladies.
**********************************************************************
UPDATE MARCH 9th:

I just could not resist sharing a fine piece of writing by the outstanding blog author Molotov of Booker Rising that highlights the contributions to women's rights made by the Somali-born Member of Parliament for The Netherlands, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. We here in Europe may well remember the brutal assasination of the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on the streets of Amsterdam last year and the subsequent death threats by Islamic extremists to this young, vibrant, and outspoken Parliamentarian which forced her into hiding for over 2 months. Ms. Molotov, a self-proclaimed libertarian feminist hailing from the great midwestern capitol Chicago, Illinois has provided her readers with a link to an excellent article by journalist Kay Hymowitz "The Sisters They Ignore" published March 08, 2005 in The Australian. Be sure to visit Booker Rising's March 8th postings to read and enjoy Molotov's analysis and commentary on a wide variety of issues. Another good example of an outstanding woman author working hard for us all out there in the Blogosphere.

P.S. ...and she likes to use the contraction "ain't" sometimes just like I and Sojourner do. Love it! I've been putting the doggone apostrophe in the wrong place though. Mrs. Smith (my 3rd grade teacher) would whack my knuckles for making that kind of mistake, then whack me again for using the word "ain't" in the first place because she knows that I know better than to use that word.

African Film & Television Festival - FESPACO 2005

African Film & Television Festival - FESPACO 2005
Graphic design by Nur Eldine

WANTED AT FESPACO: HOLLYWOOD's BLACK STARS

I did a little piece on the Pan African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) the other day that was tagged onto the end of a posting about the OSCARS 2005. As I was cruising the Africa sector of the Blogosphere today (a sector which includes a heap of excellent, non-African, I don’t give a d--- what color you are, blog authors by the way) I noticed that the FESPACO festival in Burkina Faso is getting a lot of coverage. I have already written that Owukori at the Black Looks blog did a real nice review on the festival and I noticed that Ethan Zuckerman picked up on it a few days back as well on his blog.

To be honest I have never heard of the FESPACO festival until this month, but when it comes to cinema and film festivals I just don’t take enough time to enjoy them as much as I would like. Actually if it were not for my (adopted) 13-year old nephew Adama asking me to see the latest (action) films with him here in Germany (auf Deutsch, naturlich), the last film I would have seen on my own would probably be titled “The Inferno - Cavemen Discover Fire!” starring Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.

Anyway the FESPACO festival is a really hot and a very important bi-annual event for the filmmaking industry in Africa and for African filmmakers living and working outside of the continet. Therefore I am including some additional links to online resources about FESPACO 2005 for my readers. There must be a better way to get the films in front of international audiences without having to rely on the cinema industry and studio moguls in the U.S.A. and Europe. By the time these Bozos wake up and get on board the filmmaking train in Africa we’ll all be dead and gone.

FESPACO official website
FESPACO Paul Robeson Award website
BBC World Service FESPACO 2005 special feature
Google News on FESPACO 2005 film festival
CSM article “Wanted at Africa’s biggest film festival” by Mike Crawley

UPDATE MARCH 7th:

"...and the winner of this year's Stallion of Yennenga grand prize is (a hush falls over the audience): DRUM by South African film director Zola Maseko!". A big congratulations to all of the contenders for this year's prizes, and especially to the South Africans who made such a strong showing this year and walked off with the goods. Hey, US$20,000.00 bucks grand prize money is a start, O.K.? Excellent, the first non-Francophone country award winner since 1989.

Now how do the international audiences around the world who would love to see many of the films in this great festival get their hands on the product? Is Danny Glover going to take care of the film distribution? I am delighted that he chose to attend and support the FESPACO film festival, but where were all of his rich and famous friends from Hollywood and New York?

You know in today's world success in business belongs to the fast and the fearless, or was that the fleet and the furious? Nonetheless, the answer to Africa's film distribution woes might be found in this article hidden deep in the Technology section of Reuters news titled "African films go digital to buck the system".

Black River Eagle: "Tonto, give me the telephone number to the CEO of Blockbuster. Nah wait a minute, get me the CEO of Walmart instead and pronto. I can smell a few greenbacks gonna get made here. And get our lawyer on the phone too to stop those guys in ...."

Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi taken in for questioning. Who's next?

Global Voices Online

Uh Oh! More trouble in the Blogosphere Down Under Sector and I don't mean in Australia. Jeff Ooi, Malaysian blogger extraordinaire, has been taken in for "questioning" by government authorities yesterday re: postings and reader comments appearing on his blog out of KL.

Check out the story posted by Ethan Zuckerman of the Berkman Center - Harvard Law School on February 28th to his own blog and to the Global Voices Online blog. This makes for some very interesting reading for blog authors and their lawyers. What, you don't have a lawyer and you are posting to the Blogosphere? You might want one after reading this.

Update March 3rd:
Here is a link to Dan Gillmor's take on the Jeff Ooi story, titled "Thought Police in Malaysia - and America". Now the heavyweights of the Blogosphere are weighing in. Coooool.

Who's next? Bahrain is next, that's who (err, where I mean). Hey, we're on a roll this week with arresting bloggers around the world. Read this story about the three moderators of Bahrainonline presently in deep joghurt over in the Sun & Fun capitol of the Gulf States. News story courtesy of Rebecca MacKinnon at Rconversation blog, of course.

Oscars 2005: Africa is in the House

The 77th Annual Academy Awards (The Oscars) will be starting out on the West Coast of the United States in about 6 hours or so (I'll be fast asleep over here in Germany. Leider). I don't visit the cinema as nearly as much as I would like to, and I can't remember the last time I have seen an American or British film in the original language version while sitting in a moviehouse. Long haul inflight videos just don't cut it for me if you know what I mean and finding an original English-language release of a film is a real pain over here.

I ran across this article today about the South African film production "Yesterday" . The article also includes some background info and links on the award-winning SA film "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" and the South Africa/U.K./Italy collab blockbuster film "Hotel Rwanda".

So I'm just beside myself with excitement tonight wondering who is going to win what and if African filmakers and actors/actresses get the recognition this year they so aptly deserve from the Academy and I've watched great TV news interviews with the leading ladies of "Hotel Rwanda" and "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" and I'm so doggone happy for the African filmmaking industry and.... I think I'll just faint!

If you are lucky enough to have a chance to watch the Oscar's Live tonight, then have great fun. I'll have to check tomorrow at the BBC Oscars 2005 site and maybe go over to the N.Y. Times Oscars 2005 site as well to see what happened. I hear that Halle Berry has not been nominated for anything this year, at least not by the Academy.

Good Luck Tonight, Africa. Yessir! Africa is in the House out in Hollywood!

"What? What about Ray? Ray who??"

Update March 3rd: Oh well. None of my favorites won anything at this year's Oscars. But then again, when was the last time I was at the movies to know what's good and what's not?

Owukori over at Black Looks blog has a real good posting on the Pan African Film & Television Festival (FESPACO) being held in Burkina Faso. Looks as if there are some real winners amongst the more than 90 films being shown. Maybe somebody will get smart and make some of the better films available online to broadband internet customers for a fee.

Remembering Malcom X

My friend Mshairi did a posting on February 21st in honor of the legacy of Malcom X, the charismatic and highly controversial African-American leader who was brutally murdered 40 years ago this week at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights – New York City. In honoring the many outstanding figures of African-American history one cannot nor should not forget Malcom X (El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz), born Malcom Little on May 19, 1925 in the State of Nebraska out on the Great Plains of the American Midwest.

As I wrote in a comment on Mshairi’s blog I personally never learned enough about Malcom to be able to write a well-informed article about him and the media and various opinions about Malcom at the time (1960’s) was so skewed in one direction or another that many people in America (and abroad) continue to have a negative view of this important figure in American history. Malcom scared the crap out of people back in the turbulent sixties, black and white alike, and his name and memory still scares some people today.

So I did a little digging around to see how his legacy is being handled in 2005 and especially since it is Black (American) History Month I feel that it is a good idea and a duty to share with my international readers these two articles from MSNBC online about Malcom X:

MSNBC Online - Malcom X: Down for the cause before the cause
MSNBC Online - An Interview with Malcom X’s Daughter

It’s also a good idea to visit the official website of Malcom X where you can learn even more about him in greater detail and be sure to check out the eulogy delivered by the African-American actor Ossie Davis at Malcom’s funeral.

Here is an excerpt from the article by MSNBC producer, editor, and reporter Michael E. Ross titled “Malcom X: Down for the cause before the cause”:

“He was aware of the fact that the Islamic population in the world is growing at an incredibly rapid rate, in the United States it’s growing significantly,” said Howard Dodson, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, based in New York City.

“That means that Americans will have to come to terms with Islam within the United States and outside, and formulate positions at individual and societal levels that bring the same respect to Islam that people bring to Christianity,” Dodson said. “That kind of respect will be won over time. It won’t happen overnight.”

Rest in Peace, Brother Malcom. God Bless.

Meanwhile back in Togo...

Update March 2nd:
I am editing this post today due to an unfortunate choice of words I used in my original posting which offended a group of people that I did not intend to insult. Therefore, a few paragraphs have been deleted and a sentence here and there to return focus to issues in Togo and my experiences with the few Togolese people that I know here in Germany.

What remains from the incident is a real smarting (menatlly fortunately) and food for thought about the sensitivities of various individuals, groups, and entire nations blog authors and their readers address and attack everyday with their postings and their comments. I am bound to make these types of mistakes again in the future as I experiment with web publishing via blogs. Fortunately I have picked up an angel or two along the way to help me when I get too careless with my writing.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Here is a report from the U.N.'s IRINnews with firsthand accounts from teachers and parents of school-aged children in Togo speaking of the difficulties they faced under the regime headed by Faure's deceased father, President Gnassingbe Eyadema. Of course, Fauré is going to fix all of this as soon as he is officially elected president within the next 60 days +/- a few months or so. After reading a number of news articles recently and listening to my Togolese friends speak about their country over the past many years I have to wonder about the part where the U.S. is calling for sanctions and cutting-off arms sales to Togo. What the He-- are we doing selling arms to the government of Togo? Who else has been selling Eyadema's regime weapons?

I sort of like that part in the IRINnews article which goes like this:

“This is Togo,” sighs her colleague, 33-year-old Akouete Attiogbe. “We have a saying here: If there’s no hound to take hunting, just take a sheep instead.”

So if you had a chance to read my previous posts on Togo, Justin and Vincent are doing just fine, and they are not acting like sheep no more. They are behaving more like bloodhounds these days and they say they are hunting for freedom for their people and I am gonna be running right along side of them for the next several weeks hunting for it too.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs news site IRINnews.org has another good backgrounder story on Togo describing life in the country under decades of very poor governance and sanctions. After reading just these two brief reports from IRINnews you tell me how these people are going to be able to hold free and fair elections without some serious help from the outside? Who is going to help them, the ruling party and fatcats sitting in Lomé? Fauré Gnassingbe is flying around Africa today trying to get some advice from Omar "Jimmy" Bongo of Gabon and Col. Moammar Ghadafi of Libya about what he should do in the face of international pressure to step down from the presidency. Maybe he should call his father's best friends in Europe, Jacques Chirac & Co. I'm sure that Les French have a suggestion or two for Fauré.

Update March 3rd: I misspelled not only the Colonel's name but that of his country as well in my original posting. The Colonel would not appreciate that you know with all that money he is spending on advertising these days. My apologies.

Spyware Snags Blogger Users

Spyware Snags Blogger Users

If you use the Blogger web publishing software or visit and download from Blogspot hosted weblogs, you need to read this article in order to CYA and protect your PC. The spyware/adware problem may be showing up on other web publishing systems in the Blogosphere as well, but I haven't seen any security alerts about that yet. And you had better double-check some of those 3rd party add-on applications and Java-script code pasted into your weblogs too, just to be sure.

'Aint nothing sacred anymore? Blogger Tech Support needs to get on this right away and then notify the millions of Blogger users out there "tout de suite"! (Did I spell that right? Non? Schade.)

If you are not up-to-speed on what Spyware is and how dangerous it can be to you and your data, then check out these eWeek tech articles here and here.

Aftershocks in the Iranian Sector

Hey! There is a big protest action going on today in the blogosphere against the Mullahs in Iran and their heavy-handed treatment of our fellow bloggers working from inside the evil empire. Go check it out over at the Global Voices Online blog posting “Cyberdissidents and WSIS”. Here is some more on the Mullah crackdown at former CNN Asia bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon’s Rconversation blog “Free Mojtaba and Arash Day” and here is a real good article on how dangerous it is for a woman to blog inside Iran at the L.A. Times titled "Blogger's Crime Against the Islamic State" dated February 9th, 2005. Goes to show you. Bloggers beware! The Big Kahoogi’s are watching you.

FREE MOJTABA! FREE ARASH! FREE FAROUZ FARZAMI !! FREE ANGELA DAVIS!!?

Angela Davis? I wonder what she has been doing since she got out? Let me see here search Free Angela Davis…..whoa Angela baby! Gigging at the University of California - Santa Cruz these days. Cool! Can't stir up too much trouble over there on the other side of the mountains down by the sea.

Have to keep plugging for Black History Month 2005 you know.

ethiopundit: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King

As I sit at my computer in my office today watching the beginnings of one of those really dangerous North Sea snow storms sneak up on us for the weekend, I decided to check my web-based email at Yahoo! and lo-and-behold there was a message from one of my favorite bloggers: ethiopundit!

It was a notification message about a recent posting the ethiopundit Team has done on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. If any of my readers have been fortunate enough to have discovered the ethiopundit blog some time back (founded in July 2004) then you know that this article on Dr. King is a must read. Every time I visit their weblog I come away with the feeling that today I have learned something that I didn't know before.

I have been marvelling at the excellent writing and creativity out there in the web and particularly in the Blogosphere lately by people of every shade and color, from so many nations and ethnic backgrounds, who are writing about Africa in particular and about practically everything going on down here on the Planet Earth. You are making the Fat Cats and the Bad Guys around the world nervous, I'll tell you that. Too much sharing of valuable information going on for their tastes.

If the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today (we sure could use him now, couldn't we?) and was able to enjoy some of the beautiful work I and many others have been so privelaged to experience from certain authors and designers and contributors from every background active in the Blogosphere today, well he would be mighty proud. Mighty proud indeed.

Thank you ethiopundit for helping to keep our heads up...und unsere Ohren steif! (auf Deutsch)

BRE: "Who are these guys, Tonto?"
TONTO: "I don't know, but I think they from Ethiopia or somewhere like that."
BRE: "Well, wherever they are from they are damn good at what they do."

AN EXTRA TREAT for My Readers:

You may remember that I wrote a humble article in rememberance of Dr. King back in January 2005, where I mentioned the speech Martin Luther King delivered at the NYC Riverside Church in 1967 titled "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break the Silence". Well thanks to the article from ethiopundit referenced above I discovered a great site named American Rhetoric which has the text including an MP3 audio file you can listen to over the internet of that speech and others from Dr. Martin Luther King . Get the handkerchiefs out laidies (and gents) this site will make you cry if you can remember back to those days. There is oratory by other great American historical figures on this website as well including speeches by JFK and RFK.

This is a good time to make a plug for a good article titled "Reversing the Middle Passage" from Kenya Hudson (another one of my favorite bloggers) which highlights the new InMotion Exhibition at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. InMotion online is one of the most extensive multimedia exhibits on the history of Africans in North America I have ever seen on the web and will serve as the basis of a number of articles I plan to post over the next weeks and months. The (written) history of the African roots of my family dates back to the mid-1700's in the United States of America, and the story of my people is definately somewhere InMotion. Yessir!

And of course last but not by any means least the U.K. is having a Black Culture Blowout this year with the Africa ReMix art exhibition and the Africa '05 festivities and celebrations in and around Londontown through October 2005. This is the largest (and perhaps one of the best) celebrations of African art and culture ever held in Britain (nah...the largest in all of Europe!).

So there! Have great fun and learn something about the History of Black Folks while you are at it. It's Black History Month back home.

Togo Army Backs Down on Coup Attempt

According to this BBC News article General Seyi Memene has announced that Togo’s military has agreed to “return the country to constitutional order” after talks with West African leaders from ECOWAS (and a helluva lot of pressure from outside of the country). Now this is very good news and I mean that. Let’s hope that everything goes smoothly for the people of Togo as they stand up for their rights and demand a democratic government elected by the people and for the people as stated (hopefully) in Togo’s constitution.

You may remember that I wrote a brief piece on Togo a few days ago and left a rather lengthy comment on the Ambiguous Adventure blog referring to the two young men in my neighborhood from Togo. I want to tell you that they have stopped talking about “taking up the gun” and just yesterday they were using terms like ECOWAS and ECOMOG and saying “Africans must work together to solve Africa’s problems”. I was a bit surprised that they were even informed about ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) and very surprised that they felt ECOMOG could be of any help to the people of Togo based upon its past history in Liberia back in the ‘90’s. To be fair ECOMOG has improved their act lately in Liberia and Sierra Leonne where I believe they are presently active under a U.N. resolution of one kind or another.

Vincent (one of my friends from Togo) complained “…nobody wants to help us!” but I calmly explained to him that a lot of people and countries want to help the people of Togo and that I am doing it right now, that I personally started more than 2 years ago to talk with my Togolese friends about a political change not only for their tiny nation but for all of Africa. That big changes are coming and it is high time for them to get ready to support a peaceful and meaningful change for Togo. To prepare themselves by continuing and improving their education and access to information and to do the same thing for their people back home.

Vincent agreed with me and he and Justin (my other friend from Togo) are thinking real hard now about what concrete steps they can take to help move their country forward during this window of opportunity. It will be real interesting to see what they do in the next months. Unfortuantely like so many African immigrants living for a time in Europe they have forfeited their citizenship and passports from their native countries in favor of a European passport to ease international travel restrictions for themselves and to be able to take advantage of some social benefits available to European citizens. They have practically no rights whatsoever re: the political affairs in the countries of their birth and they cannot vote. It is a real pity of sorts.

So the BBC article talks of a renewed optimism from the ECOWAS and the international community that there may be a breakthrough in the “misunderstanding of democratic procedures" which has mistakenly put the new president Faure Gnassingbe in power last week.

Kenya Hudson has a nice little article on the problems of opposition parties in Africa as reported by the BBC last December 2004 and I found a very interesting Special Report on the 2003 Togo Elections at the IRINews.org site which provides very good background info on how politics work in the country and how the now deceased former dictator (President) Gnassingbe Eyadema was able to hold onto power back in 2003 after small but important last minute changes to the constitution which basically crippled the oppostition. Compare actions taken before the 2003 elections by the former President of Togo to the recent closing of independent radio and TV stations in the country by the present (interim) administration to get an idea of where this is going.

No wonder the new (interim) President Faure Gnassingbe was grinning like a Cheshire cat on the BBC World News TV report today, he knows he’s got the elections the military is promising will be held within the next 60 days “…in the Bag!”

Happy Valentine's Day Ladies

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 2005 to all of the wonderful women in my life out there. If I could I would have scores of people showering you in perfumed flower petals as you ride atop decorated elephants in a procession through the streets of some exotic Asian city.

A special greetings to the ladies who have always been there for me in my life (you know who you are) and have worked hard to keep me on the "right path" and encouraged and supported me in my many endeavors. You are like angels to me still and I often turn to you in silence for guidance when I lose my way. I bathe in the glow of your beauty and kindness and wisdom.

And last but certainly not least to my newfound lady friends in the Blogosphere who inspire me with your words and your courage and your deeds. You show those of us who will listen the great power and beauty of women and girls around the world, and may God always keep his hands over you forever. Happy Valentine's Day.

BRE: "How'd I do Tonto?"
TONTO: "Good, good Black River Eagle. Women like to be recognized and remembered you know. I'm just glad we are not in India or something or we would be out of a lot of money hiring all of those elephants and stuff!"
BRE: "Well even if we were they would be worth it Tonto, every penny. Women are precious."

Test Posting Feb. 12th

This is just a test posting to check the recent software upgrades and changes by Blogger. The profile and posting count routines don't seem to be working properly yet to me. I guess I'll have to Ping those support staffers again back at Blogger.

If any of my readers have been cruising around the Blogosphere today then you have probably noticed that the blogging community around the world is RED HOT!! Boy, I hope the Net can handle the heat and traffic out there. I don't think the Net was built for this kind of upsurge in global interactivity. Maybe we need to build out the global ICT infrastructure at an even faster pace and higher priority for all nations so that even more people can have a voice and chance to Speak Up.

Togo Stands Up!

“Uh-Oh. Looks like the tiny African nation of Togo is in the house. After 39 years of dictatorship under President Gnassingbé Eyadéma the people of Togo are trying to stand up to board the Freedom Train. Looks like we done started something here Tonto. People trying to make the break to freedom everywhere on the planet.”

Now what am I talking about? Well go on over to Ms. Hudson’s Ambiguous Adventure and you can read all about it. Don’t miss my little side story in the comments section of her posting on Togo’s new self-appointed President. According to this article from BBC News online the new president, Faure Gnassingbe, was educated by the French at the Sorbonne Université and he earned an MBA in the U.S.A. at George Washington University (4 blocks down from the White House mind you). I wonder where he was taught about “Le coup d’etat” strategies for the 21st century? Folks around Africa don’t seem to be too happy about it either. You can read about it here.

UPDATE (February 11th): I changed and improved some links in the paragraph below because the former URL link to the Infoplease.com website had all kinds of strange pop-ups and stuff. I hate unwanted pop-ups and spyware launching in my readers' browers, so Infoplease has been axed from this blog.

Togo was a military protectorate of The German Empire II briefly in the late 1800’s as you can learn here in English or "auf Deutsch" or " auf D-Englisch". The German language site has some great photos and graphics from the period. The open encyclopedia project Wikipedia has detailed info on the country of Togo. AllAfrica.com has some of the best and most comprehensive coverage on the developing story in Togo by African journalists from around the continent.

“STAND UP People of Togo! Stand Up for Your Rights as Human Beings!

Stand Up and you just may be surprised who will stand up with you, and who won’t. Togo is in the House doggone it, and the people of Togo ‘aint goin’ back out in them fields no more!” Amen.

Remembering the Great Ossie Davis

As I was doing some online research today in preparation for upcoming postings on African and African-American History in honor of Black History Month 2005 I came across the news that Ossie Davis had died on Friday, February 4th in Miami. This is like hearing that a dear member of your family has died for millions of Americans and other people around the world, and I thank Owukori of the Black Looks blog for this news; I wouldn’t have even known about it if I had to depend on the television media here in Germany. Maybe it is in the newspapers.

The names Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee played a role in my life and times back in New York City because of their close friendship to people there who are (like) my own family. I know that Beryl and Diana and Paulette are just devastated by this loss, as is all of New York City. They dimmed the lights on Broadway on Saturday night in his honor, that’s how important he is to the theatre family in America. Last December Ossie and his wife of more than 50 years, the beautiful actress Ruby Dee, received The Kennedy Center Honors for 2004 at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C.

It could be that Ossie Davis is relatively unknown outside of the United States and if you are a reader who has never heard of him or not had the pleasure to see his works in theatre, film, books, or television then I would suggest that you become familiar with this great man. Ossie is a giant of a personality in American entertainment, the U.S. civil rights movement (he spoke at Dr. Martin Luther Kings funeral), and in the very fabric of the country itself. In other words, he was an important part of America’s living history up until last Friday. Now he is gone and he will be missed by millions of us.

Owukori did a nice little article on Ossie over at her blog with a great list of his work in film, theatre, and television. Below I have provided some additional links to online resources where you can learn more about Ossie Davis and other great actors who worked together with him to help entertain and educate his loving fans for more than six decades:

Washington Post (some registration required)
“Distinguished Actor’s Talents Graced Screen…”- (Feb. 05, 2005)
Remembering Ossie Davis – Life in Photos

The Seattle Times (no registration required, I think)
“Ossie Davis, smoothing out a rough way” – (Feb. 07, 2005)

The Westchester N.Y. Journal News (Feb. 06, 2005)
“In all things that mattered Ossie Davis was a big man”

National Public Radio (NPR)
“Rememberances for Ossie Davis” (incl. text and audio files)

UN Special Commission Report on Darfur January 25, 2005

This is just a quick update post on Darfur 'cause frankly, I'm busy with some other stuff. You didn't think that I was giving up on the folks down in Darfur and Chad, did you? Nah, never.

So I was over at Ingrid's place poking around for the latest news out of Sudan and making trouble in her Comments section yesterday. Now those of us who have a boob tube (TV) at home or at least access to good press or radio know that the international media is getting tired of the Tsunami Disaster reporting and has turned its attention back to Sudan again, however briefly. The big story of the day is the latest report to the U.N. Secretary-General from his Special International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1564 of 18 September 2004. The report was officially released on January 25, 2005 at Geneva and certain important people (including the GoS) have received advanced warning (sorry, advanced copies) of the report which pretty much lets the Khartoum regime (a.k.a. the GoS) off-the-hook for GENOCIDE ____________ (at the special request of China and Russia I might add) and now the proverbial S--T HAS HIT THE FAN in capitols around the globe and fur is flying everywhere and a few chicken feathers too.

Now all I've got to say about it is "I told you, I told you so, I ..." nah, I'm not going to say that. All I've got to say is READ THE REPORT! After all, we (taxpaying citizens of the world) paid for this special investigation by the U.N. Special Commission of Inquiry or whatever, 'cause the U.N. is flat broke and they sure as heck aren't paying for it.

Download and read the 176-page U.N. document and you might be motivated to do something to relieve those poor people of their living hell out on the deserts of western Sudan and Chad, like start raising some Hell in your home country with certain politicians and businesspeople doing big business with the regime in Khartoum, making money at the expense of the lives of innocent women and children being brutalized and murdered in Darfur by you know who.

Lastly, the next time you are at the store and pick up something labelled Made in China or Made in Russia or Made in any of the other countries supporting the present regime in Khartoum, well think about what you are doing before you buy it. Hit 'em where it really hurts, in their rear-ends where they keep their fat wallets full of your money.