Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why is Africa in such a mess?

" lastly, there is incredible wit here, that somehow belongs on the screen. when ikhide wrote that terrible email about not caring about the benin mask, i could help admire the brilliance of his wit, never mind the disagreement, if disagreement there was. it shines off the screen. what would a dull page of paper do to it? and not just wit; i don't mean to belittle him. it was felt really strongly, passionately. read quickly, felt quickly; reread again. closed. next."

 

- Kenn Harrow,

 

Okay, Kenn, below is what I wrote in response to your rousing call to arms. I clearly said I do not care for the campaign to return the mask. I did not say I do not care for the mask. In fact, the case could be made that I care more for the welfare of the mask than those of you wailing Mbakwe for the return of the mask. I expressed deep reservations about its fate in a land that cannot take care of its own people, talk less of a mask, a land that is unable to sustain a credible museum, a land where its zookeepers have other priorities other than keeping animals alive. I also expressed distrust of the motives of those who would use their awesome powers of persuasion for the return of a mask even as they blithely ignore the desecration of children, women and our sacred land by our friends in power. It is all about priorities and we have every right as human beings to make choices. There are many things that were stolen from us by Christian marauders from the West. The pillaging and rape continue to this day, aided by our friends.

 

I find it interesting that the same Western liberals who have fought ferocious battles against the killing of elephants on account of their ivory tusks are up in arms about an ivory mask. They should make up their minds.Should we simply follow them around as they bob and weave and change their political and personal convictions to suit the day?  If the Oba of Benin is missing his mask he has a strange way of showing it. He is a highly educated and astute man; he knows what to do. He could put the awesome power of his office to use in getting the mask back. Many of our thieves in power can pay for the mask many times over. Why not simply allow the mask to be auctioned in the presence of a shackled Ibori? The man can afford to plunk down $50 million for it. Meanwhile, in our country, children are being MURDERED for being children, they are called witches and wizards by Christians and MURDERED. And you sit here with me worrying about a damn mask. Who cares? The Niger Delta has been turned into hell by white MNCs and their black (Nigerian) friends; I am yet to see anyone in a sustained protest against this evil. Why should I get excited about the pet projects of white folks? In Rwanda 800,000 humans were slaughtered in a space of 3 weeks. Liberals wept - tears of joy when they found out that the apes of Rwanda had survived the holocaust.  

 

So, I should be forgiven for being underwhelmed by a call for my toes to flirt with crickets even as I am carrying an overweight elephant on my head. Kenn, I will not take Tylenol for someone else's headache. I have my own issues. Be well.

 

- Ikhide

 

 

"the report on this sale of the bein ivory mask is particularly dispiriting. we all know of the provenance of benin sculptures following the 1897 punitive expedition.now one of those pieces held by the galway family, descendants of one of the original military officers who stole the sculptures, has the effrontery to sell it.here is the sahara reporters account, detailing the situation and asking us to sign a petition complaining about the sale."

- Kenn Harrow

Kenn,

So some oyinbo person wants to sell his loot and we are about to crap in our pants? Who cares? Na wa O! Is THAT the only thing they stole? Why are we now wetting our pants over ONE art piece? A pox on all their houses. I am a descendant of the Benin empire. I don't know of any Nigerian that is not upset that these artifacts were looted and moved abroad. Having said that, it is my fervent prayer that those beautiful pieces stay away from Nigeria for now. I will personally stone whomever has the temerity to return the pieces. In fact enh, if I was the artwork I would kick against being returned to the "museums" of Nigeria. I would even beg for political asylum. Why would I substitute a life of lush living behind climate-controlled glass, oogled by nice people who know art, for a life of guaranteed misery on some God-forsaken "museum" in Nigeria? The art pieces will lie somewhere dirty at the mercy of filth, dust, neglect, corruption, etc. The curator would steal millions of dollars allocated for their annual upkeep and who knows, one drunken night, the "head of state" du jour might give them to his Indian mistress as a gift, after 1 minute of sex. The artifacts will come back home but not yet. I am not even sure to where self, the old Benin Kingdom is no more. Who will accept the art on the kingdom's behalf?

If you want to know what happens in museums in Nigeria, read Teju Cole's Everyday for the Thief. You will cry. Do you know what happened to the zoo at UI? If you find out let me know. Someone started a rumor the other day, that the zoo workers ate most of the animals when they were not paid...

If you read Wole Soyinka's book You Must Set Forth at Dawn, there is a passage there that descends into hilarious farce. He sets out to Europe or Brazil or somewhere to rescue the original ori olokun. He concocts some nonsense espionage bullsh*t and comes away, well almost - with a plastic copy of the ori olokun! LOL! Ask him for me, where was he going to put it? Hopefully in his house away from termites with steel jaws.

Are these busybody petitioners just now noticing that the piece has been missing? Which one concern them inside? The courts should ask them which part of the art work belongs to them. Shebi it is only 3 million pounds that they are crying about. Ibori used to steal that every day. Every day. And you, Kenn have been silent about that, well you will say oh yes white folks steal also! This group of powerful intellectuals could start a letter writing campaign to protest the fact that fully a quarter of our budget goes to supporting the legislative branch (or something similarly outrageous). I will sign that petition. Kenn how many of you have signed a petition against the wanton abuse and murder of the "witch children" of Nigeria? That I will sign.

Kenn, I have an idea. Let us start a petition against the West. Dear West, do not allow any penny to leave Nigeria (use Nigeria as a test pilot). That is, they may steal but they must spend the money on and in Nigeria. Do not permit any of our bastard leaders to go abroad for "medical attention!" Now you are talking. I will sign that one. To hell with the mask. Keep it in Europe. Have a great life, mask. Those of us stuck in Africa envy you your life!

- Ikhide

 

---

From: kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sun, December 26, 2010 9:41:14 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why is Africa in such a mess?

i don't mind what you do with it toyin,
but as for an academic journal, i would not think it appropriate
first of all, i don't know about the others, but these responses are compose a l'improviste, quickly, too often without even prooooofreading, alas.
further, the answers are always particularly considered. i mean, i think about the parts where the bug bites, and turn to that. as a result, many key points are left unanswered. moses's  last posting in which he said to me something like, surely you don't think sweden is socialist, was right. i don't. it is a reformist version of capitalism, liberal capitalism in fact; and my musings on the difference between what i think of as the ideals of capitalism and socialism are really quite undeveloped, to be sure. i gestured toward people i admired, like spivak and derrida, and politically especially mouffe and laclau. if it were to go to a journal, i would have to look up the key passages and make the points appropriately, not just vaguely suggest their broad outlines.
the media are different. i stopped because we were delving too much in what seemed a personal exchange, and i like the more rapid reflections, ones where many intervene, ones that perhaps demand less of the reader since i know, as my friends have told me, that length becomes an issue.
this list has had wonderful exchanges; but they are not book-like or academic. they represent a new exciting form of intellectual debate. we can't cast it back into the older paper mold.
lastly, there is incredible wit here, that somehow belongs on the screen. when ikhide wrote that terrible email about not caring about the benin mask, i could help admire the brilliance of his wit, never mind the disagreement, if disagreement there was.
it shines off the screen. what would a dull page of paper do to it?
and not just wit; i don't mean to belittle him. it was felt really strongly, passionately. read quickly, felt quickly; reread again. closed. next.
and then pius came in on ghana: who could ever duplicate the effects of the one following the others? if you organized it, you'd kill it.
so, go ahead.... but .....
ken

On 12/26/10 7:15 PM, toyin adepoju wrote:

I hope members in general and contributors to this debate in particular do not mind this  effort of mine at a  compilation of the debate.I was inspired by the sheer power of the arguments and their progression in contrast to  and complementarity  with  each other.

The compilation can be neater than this but this is what I have been able to do for now.

I would have liked to add a list of contents and an index.

I would like any corrections pointed out so I effect them.

I wonder if members as a group or individually object to the following;

1. Distributing this compilation on other groups

2. Placing it on the free document archive Scribd

3. Blogging it

4. Sending it to an academic journal to be considered for publication after it has been made neater by adequate paragraphing for all contributions,for example.

In all these instances,nothing will be changed in terms of addition to or deletion from content of contributions and the names of contributors in relation to their contributions.

Finally,members might want to consider the possibility of the posts on such a rich group as this being published on a yearly basis and the money going to charity.

Nothing can replace readily accessible record keeping. History is being made and knowledge constructed through these posts and debates.

Thanks

Toyin Adepoju

On 26 December 2010 03:10, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

I did not mean to position China as an alternative to Africa's colonial and neo-imperialist exploiters.
My point was that today's Africa's leaders seem to be happy to "batter" Africa's precious resources (raw materials to "exploiters" called trade partners ) for measly sums and bribes just as some of their forebears exchanged their brothers and sisters for firearms and mirrors among others, to strangers from unknown lands. I would rather Africa's leaders trade places with the leaders of so called trade partner countries and do to their countries what they continue to do to African countries.
"Give me China--ANY TIME" may be okay with; that is not to say that China, in the long term, will serve Africa better than Europe and North America have done.
Those who know, know that true and enduring development is not inevitable but is the result of planned, purpose-driven and rational choice, and consonant constructive actions. China is a present day example.

oa
________________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of awori [awori.achoka@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 5:22 AM

To: USA Africa Dialogue Series

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why is Africa in such a mess?

Ndugu (brother in Kiswahili), Anuno: I would rather a China, that
tells you what they wnat from you (your raw materials)--in exchange
for REAL investment in your infrastrucutre---which is arguably
Africa's biggest economic challenge---than pretence, do good attitude
of the West---guilefully used to comouflage their parasitic,
imperialistic intentions---in the guise of "bringing" democracy and
"good governance" to Africa.

It gets even more sinister, when the yardstick applied to Africa----
which gets Aid crumbs from the West--compared to purveyors of war and
human rights abuses such as Israel and the Gulf States.

Give me China--ANY TIME!

Asante!


On Dec 20, 6:48 am, "Anunoby, Ogugua" <Anuno...@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
> The evidence of history, human development, and progress is clear. Leaders build nations and make them great or not great. There is no informed person anywhere who would in good conscience, dispute the past and continuing terrible exploitation of Africa through slavery, colonialism, and neocolonialism. This is a settled subject for the most part.
> The concern now should be about what needs to be done to extricate Africa from the steel clutches of exploiter-countries, and the tangled webs of underdevelopment that her leaders seem not to be worried about. It is even not clear that African leaders are not helping to spin the webs. What is oftentimes forgotten is that the countries that are believed to have and continue to exploit Africa are always able to produce leaders that maintain the status quo in favor of the countries at the same time that African countries seem to be unable to produce leaders that will challenge and end the said cycle of exploitation.
> Right before our eyes and under our noses, China, India, and South Korea have joined the ranks of Africa's exploiter-countries. Where are Africa's leaders? Do they know that this is happening right now?  Do they choose to benefit from the said exploitation in the advancement of their self interests at the expense of group interest?
> History can be real but this is no reason to allow history to successfully continue to take a perpetual mortgage on the present and the past. It seems to me that the case being made sometimes, is that the past, holding the present and the future hostage, is inevitable and unstoppable. History is a great teacher. It is little use however if its lessons are ignored or not/never learned.
>
> oa
> ________________________________________
> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kwame zulu shabazz [kwameshab...@gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 7:41 PM
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why is Africa in such a mess?
>
> Peace OA--African nations of been "independent" from roughly two generations. How does that work out to "many years"? Moreover, we have inherited borders and political systems that were mostly imposed.
>
> Re: Sudan--There is a lot more going on there than bad leadership. The Sudanese are divided by foreign religions. But they are also
>
>  *   fighting over increasingly scarce resources, particularly in Darfur (arable land).
>  *   The north-south skirmishes are being pushed along by Islamicists in Khartoum, by
>  *   nationalists in Khartoum who believe that securing oil and other natural resources by any means necessary from southern Sudan is in the national interests
>  *   Zionist who want to undermine Islamic regimes
>  *   old and new imperialists (e.g. US and China)
>  *   undisciplined rebel factions.
>
> Re: Asia--Yes, Singapore, Japan, South Korea would appear to be far ahead of many African nations. Most of these nations have not abandoned their Gods and Ancestors, although Mau certainly tried to banish them China. Also these nations was not forced to deal with imposed languages and borders. This is especially daunting in Africa given the stunning level of cultural diversity.
>
> Chinese elites still speak Mandarin and Cantonese. African elites often prefer English or French or Portuguese. Not only that but China's path towards "development" is wrecking havoc on the environment. And the level of poverty in some parts of India would embarrass many Africans.
>
> My sense of things is that we Africans have been colonized psychologically in ways that Asian nations were not. This is what Biko was attempting to address.
>
> Last and most importantly, I think the slave trades--transatlantic, saharan, red sea, indian ocean--have undermined African development profoundly. kzs
>
> --
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--  kenneth w. harrow distinguished professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu

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