Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

Ken:

There is a lot in this short essay. There is no easy answer to issues around heroism, which is why we resort not to facts but to mythologies. Anything you can describe with precision has fallen out of the realm of mythologies. And the transition to god-human must await death. Jesus is Jesus not because of the assemblage of facts but of myths. The problems of Prophet Mohammed, one can argue, include emphasis on facts and the extension of their meanings to practice.

TF

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu>
Date: Friday, December 31, 2021 at 2:43 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

what if we can think about what people leave behind in two ways:

--following the thread of cornelius's speculations, the effectiveness and actual accomplishments of the "real" person, the actual material actions, the actual material accomplishments. we can then say, well, whatever the rhetoric, the actual accomplishments were questionable. this was true of the civil rights legislation of the states in the 1960s which accomplished revolutionary changes in the laws of the country, but resulted in little material changes in the lives of ordinary folk. we can say the same for the T&R commission, perhaps; we can certainly say the ideals of the ANC have not at all been lived up to in that rich african country, where poverty and the masses see little changes.

is that enough?

was mandela's bargain with the devil a failure?

was marx no better than stalin?

 

or, i'd like to think there is another side to the person. let's call it:

--the ghost. the spirit of what came from the words, image, ideal, concept generated by the person.

freud changed the world, even if we don't like some of his formulations

marx took the underclass, the laboring people, and said, let them rule. let their voices be heard and prevail. let the damn rich be overthrown. let justice come, and just revolutions will show the way.

whatever you can say about the failures of the ussr, or bolsheviks, or stalinism or maoism, there is always that notion that they failed to live by the key concept that the rulers should be the masses of working class people, not the owners, and certainly not the state which is the instrument of the ruling classes. as classes disappear, so too should the state wither away. not become stronger, more autocratic, more fascist.

not xi jinping or any other autocrat; not autocratic or fascist leaders or parties.

 

if "working class" no longer serves, the ideal does.

 

the ideals generated by  mandela and tutu were like the ideals of martin luther king. they inspired people to be better, inspired us to work on their campaigns, and kept us at the hope for a better world.

generally speaking, ken saro-wiwa spoke for those ideals on the threshold of his death; and achebe was perhaps the most eloquent in his writings and speeches in the last 30 years of his life, although his last book disappointed me and many.

 

marx called that level the superstructure, and attributed it to the "relative" autonomy of thought, and creativity.

 

ghosts speak more powerfully than do bodies. the poet said, listen more closely.

listen, it is in the breath, the breathing of things, it is breath, its "souffle"

he says listen more to things--les choses--than to beings, "les etres"

listen in the voices you hear in the world around you, in things that move and change, like the fire and water and wind, the sob of the bushes, and most of all, he says, in the ancestors

it is in the breath of the ancestors, their "souffle."

 

i take that souffle to be the voice of the ghosts.

so, he says to us now, listen to the ghost of desmond tutu. it is there.

ken

 

Ecoute plus souvent
Les choses que les êtres,
La voix du feu s'entend,
Endents la voix de l'eau.
Ecoute dans le vent
Le buisson en sanglot:
C'est le souffle des ancêtres.

Il redit chaque jour le pacte,
Le grand pacte qui lie,
Qui lie à la loi notre sort;
Aux actes des souffles plus forts
Le sort de nos morts qui ne sont pas morts;
Le lourd pacte qui nous lie à la vie,
La lourde loi qui nous lie aux actes
Des souffles qui se meurent.

Dans le lit et sur les rives du fleuve,
Des souffles qui se meuvent
Dans le rocher qui geint et dans l'herbe qui pleure.
Des souffles qui demeurent
Dans l'ombre qui s'éclaire ou s'épaissit,
Dans l'arbe qui frémit, dans le bois qui gqmit,
Et dans l'eau qui coule et dans l'eau qui dort,
Des souffles plus forts, qui ont prise
Le souffle des morts qui ne sont pas morts,
Des morts qui ne sont pas partis,
Des morts qui ne sont plus sous terre.

Ecoute plus souvent
Les choses que les êtres….

 

 

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2021 8:54 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

 

 So many opinions in the South African Newspapers

Nobody wants to be misrepresented, hence this, briefly.

Although South Africa is very different from Nigeria there is a consensus about the main nominations for the title "The Desmond Tutu of Nigeria" interpreted to mean " the conscience of Nigeria", i.e. he who speaks truth to power, champions Democracy, Human Rights and anti-corruption.

Strictly speaking , the idea that just like Archbishop Tutu , Wole Soyinka is / was almost "untouchable" because of his international fame is not so accurate when we know for a fact that Abacha had passed the death sentence on him, in absentia and if Soyinka had returned to Nigeria during General Abacha's reign of terror , the Nigerian dictator would have summarily dispatched Soyinka to join Ken Saro-Wiwa and the ancestors...

Yesterday (all my troubles seemed so far away) , today and tomorrow, South Africa & the world mourns the passing away of the anti-Apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu as his body lays in state at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town. Only the devil would like to rain on his funeral while the lovers shed real tears.

Back in 1986, here is Miles Davis blowing his trumpet : Tutu

Throughout 2022 – 22 Tu tu will be dearly remembered.

Rightly or wrongly, especially posthumously, a man ought not to be judged by his intentions or by intentions that he did not have. The condolences are still pouring in. There's the statement issued by South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, followed by Alagba Falola's eulogy, as expected Per Wästberg has also been fulsome, and now, what remains to be heard is the Full Monty from South African scholar Paul Tiyambe Zeleza...

As Professor Harrow says, along with Albie Sachs, there's all that courage and integrity that the late Archbishop and freedom fighter represented, yes, and to his credit, in the new province of freedom that is post-apartheid South Africa the Archbishop did stand up for LGBT rights , and anywhere in the generally homophobic Africa, we are to suppose that it takes a lot of courage to stand up for LGBT Rights. In his later years , I assume that as the good prelate he was he campaigned as vigorously against the occasional spates of violent xenophobia as and when it reared its ugly head.

I'm sure that as Tutu ascends to his place in Heaven, no one wants to clip his wings of courage and sincerity that propelled him down here on earth, or to deprive him of his irrepressible sense of humour, that endeared him to so many in this vale of tears, the very sense of humour that probably prompted him to assure his buddy Botha not to worry, that if the worst imaginable thing happens what to expect when the revolution comes? On the one hand should push really come to shove and the Revolution comes , according to the Last Poets "When the revolution comes some of us will probably catch it on TV, with chicken hanging from our mouths" whereas according to Gil Scott-Heron , The Revolution will not be televised .

However, according to lovey-dovey Tutu's gospel, Botha should take some consolation and rest assured in knowing that should the bloody Revolution come, the Black Bourgeois / Black Middle Class would join forces with the oppressor class in down-pressing & suppressing the Black plebeian masses. So, Ken Harrow had better lay to rest the social gospel, all that Marxist theology otherwise known as Liberation Theology.

Long live Joe Slovo, Alan Paton, Nadine Gordimer, Andre Brink, J. M. Coetzee, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Lewis Nkosi, Chris Hani , Oliver Tambo…

I wonder what a Truth and reconciliation Commission in Israel would accomplish...

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission over which Tutu presided is regarded by some critics of that Commission as an instance of which it can be religiously said that "South Africa never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity" It was a missed golden opportunity for what I'm sure that least one person in this forum - Professor Biko Agozino will readily agree with me, that reconciliation and by implication justice in the true sense of those words can only be effectively achieved when the outstanding matters of reparations, compensation, land re-distribution are properly addressed.

In the final judgment, somehow, Tutu's fortunes seem to be inextricably linked with what many are increasingly being disenchanted and frustrated with as a very counter-revolutionary ANC, although he did not spare some of the ANC that much in his critiques. The counter revolutionary ANC 's fortunes really started to dwindle - along with its dwindling reputation when members of that party sabotaged Thabo Mbeki and replaced him with Zuma who still denies the 856 charges of corruption made against him , but who did not reject the rape charge bought against him in a South Africa that's said to be "the rape capital of the world ", explaining as he did that a female prancing around in her underwear in front of a big Zulu man him , was only asking for it and should only have herself to blame.

What was the reaction of the late Archbishop to that sort of thing? Did he approach Zuma just as the Prophet Nathan approached King David , to speak truth to power or was it another missed opportunity?

Anyway, I have read one of his books - namely, his God Has A Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Times and was amazed by the chapter entitled "God loves your enemies": At least he didn't go as far as to say" God loves the devil", only that God loves the agents of the devil...

Lastly, I should also like to point out that as far as South African religiosity is concerned I am currently a student of the late Andrew Murray , kept company with his Covenants and Blessings, last night….

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=137742235320433&set=gm.1208952539628393

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday, 31 December 2021 at 01:09:13 UTC+1 Kenneth Harrow wrote:

nigeria had two consciences forever and a day, and we all know it was achebe and soyinka.

but they were public intellectuals and world famous authors--almost untouchable, over the long haul

where the human rights heroes were to be found was in the journalists and presses who were courageous enough to stand up--like our immensely brave ken saro-wiwa, who returned to face the evil regime when he could have stayed out.

how many guardian reporters risked their necks to report on abuses? how many sowores and sahara reporters.

the collective courage is really the most impressive. tutu was a beautiful model,. as is albie sachs, his partner in moral courage.

but the little people who stand up--with no real fall-back--are to be admired. how many of y'all heard of oyono mbia? he was one such model. and the brave journalists in cameroon, never to be forgotten. all heirs of what tutu stood for. courage and integrity.

k

 

 

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2021 4:46 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

 

Jesus : "The truth will set you free"

John Keats:  "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

And to what category do you confine Mein Kampf ?

Coincidentally, - and - without being obtuse, evasive, philosophical or profound, a simple example should clear up the fog that could otherwise be clouding this discussion - and hopefully - simultaneously - the answer should suffice as the absolutely correct answer to the not so problematic question posed by our Prince of Commentators, the one and only Professor Ayo Olukotun ( I love the man) and his question was or still is " Who is Nigeria's Desmond Tutu ?"

My short answer is, not that he didn't play his part, but God forbid that Nigeria would have such a clown albeit decked in an Anglo-Catholic Church of England's Archbishop's gown, or uniform, but if the real intention in that question could be appropriately re-worded to read , " Who fits the role of " the conscience of Nigeria " then the answer is, in both fact and fiction, prose, poetry, dramaturgy, autobiography, newspaper oratory , literary and not so literary essays, political commentaries, busy directing traffic in down town Lagos, forever humanely engaged in truth and reality, on stage, off stage, in and out of prison in Nigeria, on and off the printed page and on the world's stage, without a doubt that person, a moral visionary with a moral conscience devoid of ecclesiastical jargon is

Our Brother from Abeokuta , Wole Soyinka

Indeed he is and has been that for the past 55 years and counting.

The point of coincidence or confluence with Tutu ( May his kind soul rest in peace) is not oblique either - it's there for all to see and judge: Nobel Laureate Soyinka's extraordinary/classic assessment of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission that occur in his Reparations, Truth, and Reconciliation in the collection titled The Burden of Memory the Muse of Forgiveness

( BTW, I watched Larry King on CNN for years, during which time I have only witnessed a break in transmission exactly twice: the very first time was to save us the viewers further embarrassment when Archbishop Tutu was more than bending over backwards, symptomatic of Tutu - in the holy Name of Jesus, to apologise for some of the crimes committed by his alleged Boer brothers in Christ - and the second time was during an interview with Richard Holbrooke who I intuit was going too far in revealing what sounded like some behind the scenes inner details about when Nixon sent him off to China as his special envoy, to open up things over there, a little. On both occasions somebody at CNN must have pulled the jack out to cause a break in transmission and thus to save the day – in Tutu's case to save him from further polluting the air in that CNN studio… sorry, sorry, sorry.., and should we delve into greater detail you would be feeling more sorrowful and sorry too

Youssou Ndour : Toxiques ( there's a message in the music) 

 

On Thursday, 30 December 2021 at 16:22:32 UTC+1 Dr. Oohay wrote:

Perhaps, only great fiction (including creative nonfiction) but only when it handles truths that reality avoids or evades. Perhaps, any honest "text" —regardless of the source. When, for instance, a Nazi minister notes that the future belongs not to the people but to those who know how to organize the people.

On Wednesday, December 29, 2021, 7:13 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

PS.

 

In some courts of law, people are required to swear on the Holy Bible or the Holy Quran, that they will be telling facts, not fiction, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth , and nothing but the truth. 

 

Some presidents take their oaths of office on those Holy Books... 

There's The Legends of the Jews

There's also all those African Folktales

Might as well toss in Jonathan Swift, Hermann Hesse, Amos Tutuola, One Hundred Years of Solitude and magical realism , J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien

Lou Reed : Magic and Loss

 

 

On Wednesday, 29 December 2021 at 22:46:53 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:

 

Dr Oohay,

I'm inclined to agree with you completely. Should we take your word for it, that "Fiction tells truth that reality cannot handle."? ( When? Sometimes? All the time? Every time? Whose fiction? )

Very interesting indeed. As in, truth talking to reality here : "Don't fall apart on me tonight, I don't think that I can handle it"

The very first seven lines the Quran prepares both the believer and the unbeliever: 

1 Alif. Lam. Mim.

2 This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil).

3 Who believe in the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that We have bestowed upon them;

4 And who believe in that which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) and that which was revealed before thee, and are certain of the Hereafter.

5 These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the successful.

6 As for the Disbelievers, Whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them; they believe not.

7 Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom.

To what category of Literature do you assign Sacred Texts ?

And to what category does the autobiography belong ?

Sometimes reading the Gospel - "inspired scripture" accounts of Jesus' miracles, Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus walking on water, Jesus feeding 5, 000 people on five loaves and two fish, Jesus rising from the grave after three days and ascending bodily through the stratosphere without an oxygen mask , and before that the ten plagues and the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea and then wandering in the wilderness , their shoes not getting worn out and manna continuously falling from Heaven, I suppose that the unbelievers have to consider that on the other hand, "Truth is stranger than fiction" (can be)

But , re- " Fiction tells truth that reality can't handle " and " Truth is stranger than fiction",

can we say that about my favourite Polish writer Bruno Schulz, or Kafka, Dostoevsky, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his The Gulag Archipelago, Ayi Kwei Armah's Two Thousand Seasons, The Healers, Alan Paton 's Cry, the Beloved Country, Emanuel Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell

 

 

 

On Wednesday, 29 December 2021 at 18:39:34 UTC+1 Dr. Oohay wrote:

Fiction tells truth that reality cannot handle.

On Tuesday, December 28, 2021, 2:11 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

"Those you think you offended might even be having a good laugh at your expense for epistemic brashness"-Adeshina.

 

Adeshina,

What if I don't care?

 

-CAO.  

 

 

On Tuesday, December 28, 2021, 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Ọ̀gá Chidi,

You assume you're telling the "Truth" and hence you do not need to apologize to those you have offended. Could you possibly be wrong about what you considered the truth? And even if you're the gatekeeper of the truth, shouldn't decency inform how the truth is purveyed (after all, the bitterest of tablets comes coated forproper swallowing😁)

 

Those you think you offended might even be having a good laugh at your expense for epistemic brashness.  

 

 

 

 

Adeshina 


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

On Tuesday, December 28, 2021, 1:29 PM, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

I know that I offended some people this year(2021). I hope to offend more people next year(2022). The truth is bitter, but must be told.

 

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, IIM Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Founder/Publisher of, www.publicinformationprojects. org)

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