From Otunba Kwabena Akurang-Parry
(Moses, Thanks! I love the new title that you've added to my name - Otunba; in the spirit of pan-Africanism, I hereby give you the title below)
To Okyeamepong Ohuhuni Moses Ebe Ochonu
Some people, like Abdul Bangura, may choose to overlook your resplendent regalia of condescending positions – the all too often I-am-right-and-everyone-is-wrong tyrannical outbursts - but some of us like to knuckle-cuddle your arrogance. This is because we believe in multiple voices, however "simplistic" as you put mine. Self-confident intellectuals don't cast basic charitable disagreements, what we do on USA-Africa Dialogue, into rigid antipodal hierarchies of right and wrong in a quest for a victory lap.
Save those tired prescriptive lectures for your undergraduate students. Tell them that teachers like you should accept alternative truths and should not be chest-thumping that their peers' positions are "simplistic!" In fact, your rethreaded long essay does not cut muster with me! And believe me, I don't need those lectures at this stage in my academic life.
This is what I wrote(see below) and which has forced you to give an unsolicited inaugural lecture on Orientalism, pan-Africanism, nationalism, Ghanaian proverbs, etc. which has nothing to do with the subject matter at hand:
"The whole Madoff's scam throws light on the ways that hegemony and the constructions of the "other" work. Madoff has been singled out as ONE American criminal. Just imagine Madoff as a Ghanaian whose criminal activities had brought down the world's economy and consider the generalizations that would have been perpetrated to demonize not only Ghanaians, but all Africans! This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries"
It was the last sentence that caught your attention! As I said, let us keep the goal-posts intact, hence return to my previous generous questions, in fact, issues you raised, and put a stop to those lectures in search of dogmatic perspectives.
1. Tell us where the last sentence above, your focal point, speaks to pan-Africanism and nationalism (you have added Orientalism) as you claimed.
2. Where the last sentence says that Pan-Africanists and nationalists are incapable of evocative appreciations of problems facing the continent, as I later asked?
3. Tell us why you believe that this sentence – "This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries" universalizes its inherent idea into a principle that Africans should embellish and tell lies about their respective countries?
4. Also tell us what is so wrong with using local proverbs, sayings, etc. even in a serious academic work? You are the very person who made a lot of roof-top noise that I had used local histories in my response to Henry Louis Gates' essay on Africans and reparations! Now you hate local proverbs! Don't we quote foreign sayings and proverbs all the time? Yes, we do!
It seems to me that the two proverbs/aphorisms (see below) that I applied have rattled your nerves. Consider what you say to people here and you would find both proverbs apt descriptions of your intellectual and collegial templates:
"I would like to remind you that speaking of a thing is not the same as speaking for it. It is an old Akan saying that may serve us well on this forum."
So what is wrong with that? Surely "rethink" and other constituencies of that sentence do not mean that I was speaking for pan-Africanism and nationalism, and/or that we should "self-censor, withhold truth, embellish, or outright lie about your country or continent" as you put it.
Again, did it ever occur to you that "rethink" could also mean how to re/consider what the West says about Africa, or even why we should make the effort to provide balanced, original, and objective assessments? Don't rush to give knee-jerk responses to whatever I say here and elsewhere because we had disagreements in the past.
Haba! You are struggling with this one too:
"My Broda Moses, as we say in Ghana, the horse you have groomed for yourself may be "too taller" for you!"
Yes, you mischaracterized that sentence in a fit of intellectual meltdown.
Let me add that we also say that if the horse is "too taller" for you go for a pig in the mud!
I love using Ghanaian proverbs and maxims, you may call them "linguistic arsenals," as someone did. They may be your referent point: the acidic pan-Africanisms at work that congeal and suffocate the truth, the types I cherish! Me na meko no oh!
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 9:22 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wealth - Caveat Emptor
Are you for real, broda? You're the one who contrasted the individualization of Madoff's crimes to the collectivization of vices committed by Africans. You are the one who contended erroneously that the Western hegemonic and orientalizing gaze on Africa flows from how Africans discursively engage with their countries, cautioning us to "rethink what we say about our countries," meaning, don't criticize too harshly, overlook some failures, stress the positive, and don't air Africa's negative laundry in public forums. In all this, you forgot that orientalism is precisely the discursive method of hegemony; that orientalism and other forms of discursive hegemonies are NOT about the folks being orientalized or stereotyped or about what they say, don't say, or do, but about the self-image and prejudices of those doing the orientalizing and labeling--Euro-Americans. I pointed this out and, instead of thanking me politely for enriching and complicating your rather simplistic pan-Africanist perspective and prescription, you unleashed a strange salvo of attacks and proverbs-laden putdowns. And you accused me of mischaracterization to boot. Pray, Oga, how did I mischaracterize you? Now, proud Akan man that you are, you're asking me for an apology. An apology for correcting your error and calling you out on your hackneyed berating of Pius, myself, Ikhide, Farooq, and others who dare to call attention to the failings of Nigeria, her leaders, followers, and institutions? Perhaps Pius, too, misread what I have been reading from you on this list about your disdain for Nigerians and Africans who say "negative" things about their countries and continent. You mentioned some instances where you gate-kept on behalf of your cookie-cutter pan-Africanism. There are several more instances in the archive of you responding impulsively to stories and comments that you considered unfairly negative and critical of Nigeria and Africa. Your use of innuendos, oblique references, and proverbs and your nameless referencing of your targets (even when you're clearly jabbing at their perceived negative comments on Nigeria/Africa) fool no one. You have cultivated a reputation on this list as a self-appointed policeman of pan-African and black nationalist protectionism and correctness. And you're very bullish in enforcing your vision of pan-African purity. The records are there. That's your prerogative. So stop throwing out red herring accusations about lies and mischaracterizations.
My Broda Chief Moses Ebe Ochonu
Very interesting indeed! So when someone posts a spate of brief responses to issues that crop up here it means that it is his/her genealogy of ideological worldview! Sometimes we post responses in jest!
Absolutely, all of us take positions and try to defend them, but it is good to say sorry when we err. You know very well that you mischaracterized that sentence -"This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries." Instead of saying hey Kwabena, Ghana man, let us agree to disagree, you have now summoned a lie to your rescue: you state that "This is consistent with your constant railings and accusations against Nigerian critics who in your opinion are too harsh in "badmouthing" their country) because it might reinforce or inspire the collective labeling of Africans/Nigerians/Ghanaians." What "constant railings and accusations" and where did I do that? I only had a series of strong disagreements with Val Ojo when a non-Nigerian academic-visitor wrote positive things about Lagos and was attacked for his views on the basis that he was not a Nigerian and that he didn't know anything about Nigeria! Remember my use of the word "insightful" and the attacking dogs that came after me! Secondly, I compared and contrasted how Ghanaians and Nigerians wrote about their respective countries on the Internet and took severe beatings for that too, in fact, some of you reminded me that I had questioned some of Jerry Rawlings' policies! Are these instances what you refer to as "constant railings and accusations..? Kai, let us keep the goal-post intact!
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu [meochonu@gmail.com]Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2011 10:13 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wealth - Caveat Emptor
Nana Kwabena Akurang-Parry,
Oh, self-appointed gate-keeper of Pan-African correctness, I withheld my "Abdul Bangura plague" from you but you unburdened the full weight of your Akan fury on me. I critique you in the honest spirit of intellectual disputation and you attack with venom and inexplicable hostility, replete with proverbs and Ghana-speak putdowns. Wetin, my broda?
Anyway, sha, my point is a simple one: there are many Pan-Africanisms and nationalisms. Your own brand dictates that "we should be careful about what we say about our countries" (euphemism for "don't criticize or say negative things in public forums about your countries, their leaderships, peoples, and vices or don't be too harsh or unforgiving in your critique. This is consistent with your constant railings and accusations against Nigerian critics who in your opinion are too harsh in "badmouthing" their country) because it might reinforce or inspire the collective labeling of Africans/Nigerians/Ghanaians. As you know, I consider this Pan-Africanism of whitewashing African problems and denying African dysfunction a romantic, insensitive, unsophisticated, self-defeating, irresponsible, and elitist genre of pan-Africanism and nationalism. But we understand each other and our disagreement. No need for hair-splitting.
On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 8:14 PM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote:
Chief Moses,
I thank Onyankopong [God] that you did not unleash your "Abdul Bangura plague" on me! I would like to remind you that speaking of a thing is not the same as speaking for it. It is an old Akan saying that may serve us well on this forum.
I concluded my signification of Madoff's scam and the ways that the West frames the "other" with the following: "This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries."
You have imputed asymmetrical, disapproving angles to my statement: you write "if you have to self-censor, withhold truth, embellish, or outright lie about your country or continent…"
Haba Moses, tell me which part of my statement explicitly or implicitly means that we must adorn Africa with self-censorship, embellishment, or lies? Did it ever occur to you that "rethink" could also mean how to re/consider what the West says about Africa? Is the word rethink synonymous with negativities in your dictionary?
I am very glad that you enunciate the following:
"I resent any nationalist or pan-African script that forbids me from telling truth about my country/continent and its many troubles. In fact I reject even a more benign attempt to impose a particular vocabulary or stylistic slant on my discourses regarding a country that I am familiar with and in which I am invested."
You may engage in resentment within your own allowable limits. Certainly what I wrote does not hold you or anyone hostage to any fraudulent orthodoxy of Africanizing. Mine is as much an opinion as yours! I am not gate-keeping how to re/construct or re/think Africa. As you often do here, your intellectual labors push subjectivity to the point of disturbing inchoateness. Who said that I wrote from some standpoints of nationalism and pan-Africanism, and where did you learn that nationalists and pan-Africanists are incapable of evocative appreciations of problems facing the continent?
My Broda Moses, as we say in Ghana, the horse you have groomed for yourself may be "too taller" for you!
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu [meochonu@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 1:49 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wealth - Caveat Emptor
"This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries. "
Madoff or no Madoff, it is not what we say about our countries or continent that produces and disseminates the pathology of Nigerian, Ghanaian, or African collective badness. It is the prejudice of Westerners, their haughty hegemony, and, as you yourself stated, their control of the global organs of mass image making and unmaking--the mass media. In any case, if you have to self-censor, withhold truth, embellish, or outright lie about your country or continent because you fear that it may fuel the Western collectivization of "African" vice, are you not pandering to the gods of Western labeling and allowing them to shape your discourse on your own country/continent? I resent any nationalist or pan-African script that forbids me from telling truth about my country/continent and its many troubles. In fact I reject even a more benign attempt to impose a particular vocabulary or stylistic slant on my discourses regarding a country that I am familiar with and in which I am invested. Self-censorship in the name of preventing the negative Othering of our people and countries is self-immolation. It is also cowardice in the face of Western racist prejudice. Speak truth about your country and your continent no matter how uncomfortable it may be. This is what we owe our beleaguered peoples. If some prejudiced white person or institution insists on labeling our countries or continent because of the sins of a few or uses what you say as an alibi to impugn your people, name and shame them by calling attention to their underlying prejudice. Speaking truth about one's country and fighting against its unfair stereotyping should coexist just fine.
On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 11:15 AM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote:
The whole Madoff's scam throws light on the ways that hegemony and the constructions of the "other" work. Madoff has been singled out as ONE American criminal. Just imagine if Madoff as a Ghanaian whose criminal activities had brought down the world's economy and consider the generalizations that would have been perpetrated to demonize not only Ghanaians, but all Africans! This is the more reason why we should rethink what we say about our countries.
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Funmi Tofowomo Okelola [cafeafricana1@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 6:36 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wealth - Caveat Emptor
Wealth - Caveat Emptor
Bernard Madoff's $50 billion scam teaches valueable lessons
By Ellen ParisPhoto Credit: ISTOCKPHOTO
That billionaire Mort Zuckerman could fall victim to Bernard Madoff leaves average investors shaking in their boots. Brian Shea, vice president and regional manager of Wells Fargo's Wealth Management Group, knows this firsthand. "This has hit a vein here," he says. "It's no surprise that we're hearing from local clients that know someone hit hard by Madoff. Your money must be well diversified. We talk about that all the time, but we're seeing so many investors who gave Madoff practically everything."
No matter what entity you invest with, review your portfolio closely and often. More importantly, entrusting all your money to a single investment adviser — no matter how trusted — is risky business.
Due diligence was lacking among Madoff's clients. Those involved claim he had an aura about him that precluded asking questions. "He was known to be evasive in communication and give black-box kinds of answers," says Shea, who's based in Palm Desert. Investors have the right to demand to speak directly to the person managing their money and making investment decisions — including direct portfolio and fund managers.
"There needs to be total transparency with money managers and quarterly meetings directly with them and not their intermediaries," Shea says.
Check the backgrounds of people managing your money. Request client names, both past and present, and talk to their competitors.
In an essay published in The Wall Street Journal, psychologist and author Stephen Greenspan explored the reasons why wealthy people fall for shysters like Madoff. Greenspan, who himself lost money to Madoff, wrote, "The Madoff scam had social feedback pressures that were very strong. Newspaper reports described how wealthy retirees in Florida joined Mr. Madoff's country club for the sole reason of having an opportunity to meet him socially and be invited to invest directly with him."
Marc Beauchamp, a former NASDAQ spokesperson during Madoff's tenure there, views it this way: "Madoff is a prime example of affinity fraud pure and simple, with unsuspecting victims believing something that was too good to be true." Affinity fraud is a scam that targets members of a specific demographic group. "In Madoff's case, his victims were wealthy and many were Jewish," Beauchamp notes.
The first mistake Madoff investors made was entrusting hefty sums of money to an individual. "Anytime you deal with a sole proprietor or small shop, you can't do the necessary due diligence you can do with a large firm," says Jim Estes, associate professor of finance at Cal State San Bernardino. Madoff's credibility was based on his wide network of friendships. It was difficult to identify the clearing broker, critical to ascertain when investing with a small company. You also want to see monthly and proxy statements directly from the funds in which you invest. "With computers and the various software programs available today, anyone who sets out to create fraud can," Estes warns. "They can produce all kinds of bogus statements."
Before giving your money to anyone, check with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (www.finra.org) to ensure they are licensed and to see what arbitration and mediation history they have. FINRA is the largest independent regulator for securities firms doing business in the United States. It oversees nearly 5,000 brokerage firms, about 172,000 branch offices, and approximately 665,000 registered securities representatives.
An SEC rule that loosened regulation for private brokerage firms such as Madoff's has not been extended into 2009. Haddon Libby, chief financial officer of El Paseo Bank who spent years in private banking, considers that a positive move. "This is important that the SEC is fixing this rule, because the more you have people really looking over people's shoulders, the better," he says. Libby also points to "making sure your money is held by well-respected and recognizable custodians like Schwab, LPL, Bank of New York Mellon, or Fidelity."
Most importantly, Madoff boasted to have only two down months in 20 years. Realistically, nobody can claim that kind of record. Who you invest with goes back to one simple guideline: Caveat emptor (buyer beware).--
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---Mohandas Gandhi
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