Ken, Pius,
I got an interesting seemingly contrite response from the author, Jeffrey Flocken (see below). I feel satisfied that I spoke up for my own dignity if not for that of those who look like me. I hope the day never comes when I will start shrugging off these statements, I understand where people are coming from, but I will never acquiesce to self-loathing. I should not have to allow someone call me the "N" word because some believe that many black people behave a certain way, that is absurd.
Some additional thoughts: There is some truth to the notion that this is mostly academic. I am not so naive that I don't perceive that in real life, notions of justice, of right and wrong are powered by, well, power. As Africans, we are not negotiating from a position of strength. When we go looking for food and firewood, we are referred to as poachers decimating the earth of greenery. Think about it, one unmanned drone, in just one clandestine operation, just one is able to accomplish what whole villages are accused of doing in Africa. African The two gulf wars and the war on terror have decimated hundreds of thousands of people, they are not as valuable as okapi. NGOs are not parked in the nuclear facilities of the West lecturing Obama et al on the sanctity of our earth. They would not live to write their reports. Long live the Okapi. It is all in how names are used to glorify or demonize and many times because of our upbringing we acquiesce to the putdowns and take refuge in self-loathing.
So, Ken, it is about power. I don't understand the mystery of all of this, this maker who would create us as Africans, make us the hunted and the haunted, allow the other to define and dehumanize us and allow us to be stupid enough to pray with priests who declare that we were born with free will to do what I don't know. All of my thinking and writing life, I have focused all of my energies on those that I hold responsible, those that can make a huge difference in the lives of our people, our intellectual and political elite. They are the ones ruining Africa for profit, racing Africa to the ground using the asinine ideology of Mimicry (of the West). I refuse to blame my poor mother in the village for the irresponsible behavior of the children she raised pennies for so they could get an education and spring her and her people from the indignity that an indifferent deity put them in. Finally, in the long run, those who live in what passes for life in many African communities will need to decide their own destiny. I am no longer there and it will be irresponsible for me to goad them into war. When on January 9th, I joined a group of Diasporans to protest the subsidy removal in front of the White House, World Bank, etc, we were escorted and protected by armed police, it was no stress. On the other hand, our counterparts in Nigeria were gunned down mercilessly. For that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala almost qualified for the World Bank job. Go figure.
So, Ken, it is about power. I don't understand the mystery of all of this, this maker who would create us as Africans, make us the hunted and the haunted, allow the other to define and dehumanize us and allow us to be stupid enough to pray with priests who declare that we were born with free will to do what I don't know. All of my thinking and writing life, I have focused all of my energies on those that I hold responsible, those that can make a huge difference in the lives of our people, our intellectual and political elite. They are the ones ruining Africa for profit, racing Africa to the ground using the asinine ideology of Mimicry (of the West). I refuse to blame my poor mother in the village for the irresponsible behavior of the children she raised pennies for so they could get an education and spring her and her people from the indignity that an indifferent deity put them in. Finally, in the long run, those who live in what passes for life in many African communities will need to decide their own destiny. I am no longer there and it will be irresponsible for me to goad them into war. When on January 9th, I joined a group of Diasporans to protest the subsidy removal in front of the White House, World Bank, etc, we were escorted and protected by armed police, it was no stress. On the other hand, our counterparts in Nigeria were gunned down mercilessly. For that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala almost qualified for the World Bank job. Go figure.
- Ikhide
"I'm sorry you felt offended by the Heart of Darkness. I was overcome with emotion to think of Africa. I felt sorry for everyone and all living that suffered and died in this siege of terror. Africa is one of the most beautiful and special places on the Earth.
The problem with the poachers has nothing to do with the people of Africa, inasmuch as the poaching is done for ignorant Asians, not Africans. The animals being poached and pushed closer to extinction make the entire Earth and for all aboard this planet, including man, very unsafe. The animals being poached are biodiversity, the creators and life givers of Earth's ecosystems or the natural surface of Earth. Ecosystems are the eco-nomy of life itself, from oxygen, fresh water, the integrity of the atmosphere, the climate, mankind's protection from deadly diseases and a long list of all the reasons mankind is alive, including the life zone of the Earth, the biosphere/ecosphere.
All plant and animal biodiversity have jobs to perform in keeping mankind alive. Take elephants, one of their jobs is to shape the land and the plant biodiversity. Science claims man is suicidal when he destroys ecosystems, and with every specie of biodiversity that falls extinct, man and Earth fall closer to extinction. Extinction has been said, to be about as safe for mankind as thermonuclear war."
The problem with the poachers has nothing to do with the people of Africa, inasmuch as the poaching is done for ignorant Asians, not Africans. The animals being poached and pushed closer to extinction make the entire Earth and for all aboard this planet, including man, very unsafe. The animals being poached are biodiversity, the creators and life givers of Earth's ecosystems or the natural surface of Earth. Ecosystems are the eco-nomy of life itself, from oxygen, fresh water, the integrity of the atmosphere, the climate, mankind's protection from deadly diseases and a long list of all the reasons mankind is alive, including the life zone of the Earth, the biosphere/ecosphere.
All plant and animal biodiversity have jobs to perform in keeping mankind alive. Take elephants, one of their jobs is to shape the land and the plant biodiversity. Science claims man is suicidal when he destroys ecosystems, and with every specie of biodiversity that falls extinct, man and Earth fall closer to extinction. Extinction has been said, to be about as safe for mankind as thermonuclear war."
- Ikhide
Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
From: kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2012 3:40 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jeffrey Flocken: Tragic Losses in the Heart of Darkness
dear ikhide and pius,
another minor addition as well.
i find myself agreeing and disagreeing on two points.
first, every time conrad's heart of darkness peers through the clouds we need not dismiss it as a racist tract. there is real debate on its merits: as a classical text, it was given pride of place in what came to be known as postcolonial literature by edward said. i have read his arguments versus achebe's, and both have their points. i believe said's reading is the stronger one--namely that the racism is evoked within the larger project of the piece to skewer colonialism and its kurtzs, its capitalist greed and corruptions. it is not africans who appear and are described as much as "africans" seen through the optic of a colonial perspective which conrad dismantles and skewers.
secondly, it isn't only western, liberal humanist animal lovers who love animals, or who care about their survival. there is nothing wrong with trying to preserve animal species; there shouldn't be poaching.
that said, i couldn't agree more about western indifference to africans and misplaced concerns for animals. nothing made me grind my teeth more than those hand-wringing reports about the gorillas in the parks of uganda and the drc that were being killed as a result of the destabilizing conditions of the genocide and conflict.
it was amazing really how the deaths of millions--i should say, MILLIONS--mattered less to the press in the west than the deaths of the precious gorillas.
and this is still true today, with conflict in the drc accounting for hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, whose condition is still being largely ignored (humanitarian fatigue)
it leads one to say, the hell with the gorillas. but that is to be manipulated by their values, and not to construct our own.
ken
p.s. pius, i loved your take on the anti-healthcare movement. i have had a hard time understanding it but your analysis helps. probably we need to add that the campaign against single payer systems as the only rational way to handle heath care have been led by wealthy interests whose propaganda convinced many people.
-- another minor addition as well.
i find myself agreeing and disagreeing on two points.
first, every time conrad's heart of darkness peers through the clouds we need not dismiss it as a racist tract. there is real debate on its merits: as a classical text, it was given pride of place in what came to be known as postcolonial literature by edward said. i have read his arguments versus achebe's, and both have their points. i believe said's reading is the stronger one--namely that the racism is evoked within the larger project of the piece to skewer colonialism and its kurtzs, its capitalist greed and corruptions. it is not africans who appear and are described as much as "africans" seen through the optic of a colonial perspective which conrad dismantles and skewers.
secondly, it isn't only western, liberal humanist animal lovers who love animals, or who care about their survival. there is nothing wrong with trying to preserve animal species; there shouldn't be poaching.
that said, i couldn't agree more about western indifference to africans and misplaced concerns for animals. nothing made me grind my teeth more than those hand-wringing reports about the gorillas in the parks of uganda and the drc that were being killed as a result of the destabilizing conditions of the genocide and conflict.
it was amazing really how the deaths of millions--i should say, MILLIONS--mattered less to the press in the west than the deaths of the precious gorillas.
and this is still true today, with conflict in the drc accounting for hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, whose condition is still being largely ignored (humanitarian fatigue)
it leads one to say, the hell with the gorillas. but that is to be manipulated by their values, and not to construct our own.
ken
p.s. pius, i loved your take on the anti-healthcare movement. i have had a hard time understanding it but your analysis helps. probably we need to add that the campaign against single payer systems as the only rational way to handle heath care have been led by wealthy interests whose propaganda convinced many people.
On 6/30/12 5:36 AM, Pius Adesanmi wrote:
--Deopka Ikhide:
A minor addition to your flow of thought here. I think the humanization of animals and the animalization of humans is an equal opportunity Western instinct. It does not play out exclusively when Western messiahs sally forth from their warrens in the Global North to rescue Congo's gorillas from Congo's guerrillas. It also happens in the West and to Westerners. Call it part of the postmodern instinct. Think of those Americans wearing sackcloth and pouring ash over their sorry-ass heads because of the survival of Obamacare. They are angry that some 40 or so million of their compatriots who would otherwise not have been able to afford medical insurance for reasons ranging from poverty to pre-existing conditions are now going to be covered. The Republicans are worried about the profit margin of kinsmen in the heath insurance companies; tea-partyers, neocons, and other racists in the lunatic far right cannot openly say that they oppose Obamacare because the majority of the vulnerable who would now be covered have slightly flatter noses and thicker lips than themselves. What do you think all these people would do if, God forbid, something were to happen to their ability to provide healthcare (vet care) for their dogs, cats, pet pythons, and pet iguanas? There would be hell to pay. They would put pressure on their government to bomb a few more places in the Arab world, steal more oil, and use the proceeds to provide comprehensive and affordable healthcare for their pet animals. It wouldn't be "socialised medicine" then!
Pius
From: Ikhide <xokigbo@yahoo.com>
To: "USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com" <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, 29 June 2012, 21:46
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jeffrey Flocken: Tragic Losses in the Heart of Darkness
--"Because the world's most imperiled species are sometimes found in the world's most dangerous places, the combustible mix of focused altruism and local desperation can collide and result in horrific tragedy.
Such a scenario occurred this past weekend in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) -- the setting for Joseph Conrad's epic novel "The Heart of Darkness." In this wild jungle, the Institute in Congo for the Conservation of Nature and headquarters for the Okapi Wildlife Reserve -- a center devoted to conserving the rare okapi and helping improve the lives of local people -- was over-taken forcefully by a gang of poachers, intent on retaliating against the staff of the center who had been thwarting their elephant poaching operations in the region."
- Jeffrey Flocken
I mean, what is it with Western liberals and their Messianic complex? They humanize our wildgame and dehumanize us. I mean, how can you be celebrating Conrad's Heart of Darkness in this manner in the 21st century? From under which rock did these characters crawl out of?
Read the rest of the article here:
- IkhideStalk my blog at www.xokigbo.comFollow me on Twitter: @ikhideJoin me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
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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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