Desicritics Category: Politics: Africa

Poetry: And I Knew Him

Amitabh Mitra — Mon, 2 Mar 2009 09:49:45 EST

I knew him
The black man playing a recorder
At a Boksburg street junction.
Every day
He played the tale of sun set blood
Of the fear of white rain gods
Of a hope of the train from Soweto
Might stop
Running over him ever since he was born
He never asked for money
Only the landscape that
Once belonged to him.
One day
He never came back.
His place trampled
By a new founded
Sky.

Photograph - Apartheid Museum, National Archives, Pretoria

Poem by Amitabh Mitra

The Crisis in Sri Lanka: Canada's Role

Vijay Sappani — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:52:23 EST

As Sri Lankan military forces try to overrun the last remaining strongholds of the LTTE rebel group (better known as the Tamil Tigers), how should Canada respond?

Canada once had a low-profile relationship with Sri Lanka. But that changed after the country's 1983 pogrom, when thousands of Tamils and Muslims were killed. More than 250,000 Sri Lankan Tamils have come to Canada as refugees since then, making Canada home to the largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the world. Meanwhile, the Tigers -- who once controlled large swathes of the island nation -- have engaged in an on-again, off-again war with the Sri Lankan government. Understanding the history of this conflict is critical if Canada is to help develop a solution for the conflict.

Following its independence from Britain in 1948 (at which time the country was still known as Ceylon), Sri Lanka's Sinhalese-dominated government introduced several laws to institutionalize discrimination against the minority Tamil population. In 1972, Buddhism was made the primary religion of the state, and discriminatory laws were passed against religious minorities (most Tamils are Hindu). Sinhalese rioters during this period attacked temples and churches, killing hundreds. That led to the formation of many small Tamil militant groups, one of which was the Tamil Tigers.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the West paid only modest attention to Sri Lanka's internal conflict. But since 9/11, the country is seen in a different light. The Tigers -- a conventional military force that has perpetrated acts of terror -- have been banned in 31 countries, including Canada.

The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government have had several rounds of peace talks, but the guns remained truly silent only for a short while. In 2002, the two sides entered into peace talks brokered by Norway, with both parties agreeing to the establishment of an autonomous Tamil region in the northern part of the country. Unfortunately, both groups violated the terms of the agreement, and Sri Lanka finally called off the talks in January, 2008.

Since then, Sri Lanka's army has scored many battlefield victories. But ultimately, there can be no military solution to the conflict: Even if the Tigers lose all their bases, Sri Lanka's government will not be able to defeat the Tigers as a guerrilla force. In the meantime, civilians continue to be caught in the crossfire between a racist government and a rebel force that is militarily outgunned and shunned internationally.

If a negotiated political solution is to come about, the Tigers must clarify their acceptance of a Tamil nation within a united Sri Lanka, and commit to disarm. For its part, the government of Sri Lanka must agree to treat the country's Tamils in a more humane and equitable fashion. The current stage of the conflict -- in which an alarming number of civilians have died at the hands of government forces -- only reinforces Tamil concerns in this regard.

The international community must convince the Sri Lankan government and Tigers alike to arrive at a permanent resolution through peaceful negotiations. Canada could play an especially important role. In fact, our federal system (which could be a model for Sri Lanka) and our large Tamil diaspora makes us a credible candidate to lead the peace talks

The question is: Do we have an appetite to see the world beyond Iraq and Afghanistan? If so, this could be Canada's moment.

Book Review: Down Memory Lane by Ravi Govender

Amitabh Mitra — Sat, 7 Feb 2009 00:49:37 EST

My friend Ravi Naicker is a poet and a teacher in Umzinto, Kwa Zulu Natal. I told him about my desire to publish a book of South African poets that would focus on the politics of New South Africa.He immediately asked me to contact his friend Ravi Govender in Durban.

I called him up and requested him to introduce me to South African poets from Natal who were affected during the apartheid regime. He was enthusiastic and promised me to do the same. The same afternoon I chanced upon Ravi’s book, Down Memory Lane at a used book shop in East London. Definitely, this is the same Ravi Govender I had been talking that morning.

Quoting from Radio Lotus FM website –
Govender.....Ravi Govender was born in Victoria Street, Durban just two blocks from the Indian Market on October 17th not too long ago.

He writes two popular columns for POST newspaper - of which he is also on the editing team. He is a public speaker, entrepreneur, serves on the board of a Durban Hospital and also a successful author. His hobbies are rugby, reading and watching movies and he is a Hollywood film buff as well as a James Bond nut. Ravi’s favourite actors are Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino and his favourite movies are The Wild Geese and any 007 movie. His take on Bollywood is that "Priyanka Chopra is the cutest thing on two legs" and he rates Veer Zara as his best Eastern movie.

Ravi has a regular programme ‘Off the Shelf’ on Lotus FM which has gained immense popularity over the years.

Down Memory Lane is a book of historic value as it documents events through the eyes of a small boy growing in an apartheid era. This book had me engrossed as pages unfolded the Indian culture that blossomed even in severely restricted conditions of that time.

Aziz Hassim, Award winning Author of the Lotus People writes in his Forward, ‘There is a saying that if you forget your past you will be condemned to repeat it. When I read Ravi Govender’s essays and his reminiscences about our somewhat chequered history, I marvel at his ability to recall Durban’s bitter sweet past with touching finesse and a depth of perception’

Regarding the ‘bhais’ (gangsters) that prowled the Durban streets during that time, Ravi has aptly named this chapter as ‘Bada Bing, Bada Boom’. He writes, ‘Some of the cadres that ruled the streets were as follows: Victoria Street where I was sired boasted The Victorians, The Queens Brigade reigned in Queen Street. The Salots which consisted primarily of brothers operated taxis near Kapitan’s Balcony Hotel in the Grey Street area. The Dutchins laagered in Old Dutch Road and The Young Americans were united in Bond Street.

They were mostly ‘toothless tigers’ trying to live off their former reputations. You know the type: one guy initiates an argument and then edges backward into his mate, declaring “hold me back, hold me back, before I kill him”

Ram Gopal Verma can actually make a film based on such a story in Durban involving such characters.

In his column ‘ Proudly Indian – Our contribution to a better world’ Ravi recounts, ‘November 16 1860,the first vessel, the SS Truro, left Madras, sailed to South Africa and was borne along more through sheer human spirit than spook and diesel.
Another factor attests to our success. Foremost in the life of our forebears was the need for a place of worship and a place for education. Parents still sacrifice their own comfort and luxuries to ensure they give their children a good education and go on to further studies, to enable them to have good careers and be productive citizens. It also serves to preserve the hard earned reputation that Indians have as valuable contributors to this country'.

Not bad for people who arrived here to be cane cutters and who have gone on to produce doctors, educators and captains of industry.

Cato Manor is synonymous with the apartheid in South Africa. During1949 and 1950 when the Group Areas Act was passed on by the government, people were forced to move from the place to townships like KwaMashu and the Indians moved to places like Chatsworth and Phoenix. Cato Manor became an international symbol of resistance to apartheid by Indians.

Ravi has written about forced removals of Indians from a place called Magazine Barracks. He writes ’the murder weapon was the diabolic Group Areas Act and the misery and turmoil caused by its death blow is unpardonable. The action of its perpetrator was unconscionable.’

Ravi Govender’s book, Down Memory Lane is an unforgettable narration of the Indian community’s resistance to alien laws, their sacrifices and finally their victory over all odds. The present generation of youth in India and overseas have a lot to learn from reading this book, his words continue to inspire us all.

South Africa, A New Destiny

Amitabh Mitra — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:33:31 EST

I have a problem. I can’t remove the smiling face of ANC President Jacob Zuma from my mind. Billions are being spent on a media exercise where everywhere you glance, there is Jacob Zuma. Every street corner, every rented car and every news paper have a life size portrait of the leader. He had descended in East London with thousands of followers in a show of strength and the launch of the election manifesto.

I have nothing against him, in fact I like him. But the media whose power can now be realized is that if I cannot remove his picture from my mind then how the millions of illiterate voters would do so even if they feel like voting for the breakaway faction of the Congress of People (COPE).

I have learned long back that politics here, like in India, is an expensive involvement. In fact former Member of Parliament MJ Akbar has given in his blog the actual figures that a Member of Parliament has to spend to retain a seat. It is no surprise that politics in South Africa follows the same way.

COPE has come up with a lot of hope and even lavish parties were thrown at Sandton Hotels but people whom I know in the townships have not yet reached a firm decision. It has so many leaders like Sam Shilowa and Mosiuoa ‘Terror’ Lekota that it would not be easy to push forward one person as its face.

Meanwhile I see that the former Gauteng Premier and a Presidential hopeful at one time and now a billionaire industrialist, Tokyo Sexwale has thrown his force behind Jacob Zuma. Jacob Zuma says that Those who have broken away from the ANC are like the donkey on which, according to the Bible, Jesus rode into Jerusalem. According to Zuma, the donkey later tried to return to Jerusalem on its own in order to once again experience that moment of glory, but the people chased it away. In the same way the Congress of the People (Cope) leaders will find they are nothing without the ANC, Zuma said.

While Lekota was addressing supporters in Durban's Umlazi area on Saturday. "All of us spent time in prison and this cannot be the badge to run the country. The time has come, the honeymoon is finished.“ he said.

General Bantu Holomisa who has always been my favourite from my Transkei days is bound to pick up a few more seats for his United Democratic Movement Party due to the split in ANC and the Pan African Congress.

I am thinking whether I should heed the call of Rahul Gandhi and go back or try to contact Amar Singhji and try my luck. If I have to vote here, I am still not sure like most of my patients.

Congo Connection - 3

Amitabh Mitra — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:48:04 EST

Olusegun Obasanjo is the UN special envoy for Congo and a former Nigerian President. I saw him coming out of a tent in Eastern Congo with General Nkunda after a round of talks. The General was as usual smiling and Mr. Obasanjo looked grim. All talks have failed since then and even at the latest one held at Nairobi. The participating rebels had asked to discuss the situation in the whole country as opposed to just the conflict in the east.

Mr. Obasanjo is a failed statesman in his own country. The United Nations have done a blunder by appointing him as the mediator of a complex war involving tribes, nations and people hungry for power. The ideal person would have been Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A man respected the world over; he has an intimate knowledge of African Conflicts.

General Laurent Nkunda seems to have a plausible answer to the ongoing conflict. He has an infectious laughter and tells me of a war that would end the day he is allowed to explain his views. I believe that he should be given a chance. A government of national unity would bring the war to an end.

But the General believes that neither the United Nations nor the African Union is keen on resolving the ongoing conflict. The participating nation's army on deputation are stationed in the safer zones of the Congo war and are paid handsomely in US dollars. The Indian soldiers spend their time playing cards while trying to ward off the mosquito menace.

The eastern region is rich in minerals, such as tin ore, gold and coltan, underlining a decade of conflict in the region. Illegal mining has fanned both sides in keeping the war going by buying weapons from the proceeds of the sales of such minerals.

United Nations Resolution 1856, which commences on January 1, 2009, authorises "the continuation of up to 19,815 military personnel, 760 military observers, 391 police personnel and 1,050 personnel of formed police units."

It directs MONUC "to attach the highest priority to addressing the crisis in the Kivu province [eastern DRC], in particular the protection of civilians, and to concentrate progressively during the coming year its action in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo."

The incumbent detail of 17,000 peacekeepers have been accused by human rights groups of not doing enough to protect citizens in DR Congo, affected by increased fighting between the Tutsi National Council for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebel forces and the army since August.

As the war continues, I stumble upon yet another famous writer, Albert Russo who is of Congolese origin. I’ve known Albert for many years, having encountered his poetry on the web pages and the print media. It was in September 2008 at the World Literature Festival in Oslo, that I actually met him for the first time in person. A great guy with a fountain of knowledge on Africa - past and present, he has written a number of novels based on Central and Eastern Africa.

His nonsense verses, I liked the best but the best I believe is yet to come. In his own words

Albert Russo was born in what is now Zaire, of an Italian father (who was born in Rhodes during the Italian occupation of the Greek Dodecanese) and an English mother (brought up in Rhodesia, today's Zimbabwe), which makes him neither Zairois, Italian, Greek, Rhodesian, Zimbabwean,or English. After primary and secondary education in francophone and anglophone Central and Southern Africa, he spent four years obtaining a degree at New York University; which does not make him American. During his seventeen Zaire-Rwanda-Burundi years he spent several months of every year in South Africa, adding up to almost four years, albeit in spaced-out installments, during turbulent times, but this does not make him South African.

He has by now spent the greater part of his life in France, but does that make him French? Jamais ! He has been translated into Greek, Turkish, German, Polish, Russian, Flemish/Dutch and Serbian, and he happens to carry a Belgian passport. Bearing in mind James Baldwin's pertinent remark, "it is perfectly possible to be enamored of Paris while remaining totally indifferent or even hostile to the French," what do all these geographic facts make of Albert Russo? Answer as a writer, he is simply uncategorizable by nationality.

Russo writes in American English and in French and has published over three hundred poems, short stories, and essays in Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, the USA, and Zimbabwe, plus more than a dozen novels published in both Anglophone and francophone countries. His poems are invariably about the human condition irrespective of geographic or national settings, and he has more than once been published in monetarily risky books of poems in English and in French within the same covers. One such book he entitled "Dans la nuit bleu-fauve" on one cover, then, turned upside down, "Futureyes" on the other. His recent collection of over 500 pages, entitled ‘The Crowded World of Solitude’, volume 2, spanning a period of 30 years, contains English and French versions of the same ten poems, and it is impossible to tell which were originally written in French, which in English; the messages are the same but the images are necessarily different, and each version sheds light on the other most interestingly, at least for those of us who are polyglots. Many of Russo's short stories have definitely American backgrounds, while others are set in Italy, Sri Lanka, China, etc. The majority of his published novels, however, centre squarely on Africa and were either adapted by himself from American English into French or written directly in French.

His sixth novel, 'Zapinette Video', which is now part of a series, has nothing whatever to do with Africa. It will be seen, then, that in terms of subject matter too, he his uncategorizable."

I was particularly interested in his education in the Congo, He writes:

I attended Athénée Royal Interracial in Usumbura (Bujumbura) for 6 years, along with Hutu, Tutsi, Pakistani, Arab and Indian students, a unique experience in colonial Africa, which gave me a cosmopolitan weltanschauung. After New York University where I majored in Economics and minored in Psychology, I spent 1 year at Collegium Palatinum in Heidelberg, Germany, where I studied German culture and literature. Then I lived 8 years in Northern Italy, before going back to NY where I worked for Unicef and taught languages to UN staff, translating for magazines such as World Press Review and publishing in US literary magazines and anthologies.

His book, ‘The Benevolent American in the Heart of Darkness’ is an internationally acclaimed novel trilogy, ‘The Black Ancestor’, ‘Eclipse over Lake Tanganyika’ and ‘Mixed Blood’, set in the former Belgian Congo and Rwanda-Urundi. It was published by Xlibris in 2004.

The book is a semiautobiographical novel which reveals the beauty of a part of Africa that has been incomparable, the people who lived there integrated to the environs that made them proudly Congolese and the desperate struggle in the later years to part with an identity that they have been born with. Exiled in different countries, they all share the same dream every night, happiness and laughter in a land that was once so full of hope.

Chapter one in The Black Ancestor starts like this:

I was born in a once lovely town called Elisabethville, now Lubumbashi, known as the Pearl of Katanga, Katanga or Shaba, which was and still remains the Congo's richest province. The whole country is alas, today in a pitiful state, after forty years of corruption and mismanagement.

The story is about Leodine who comes to know that she is actually colored, her great grandmother being an African-American with a light complexion. It is a riveting story of love, life and conflicts that rages within every colored person in Africa. Albert Russo has brought this turmoil of an African in a narrative that the reader finds difficult to keep down the book. As an African, I enjoyed it far more, being so close to my daily life.

The last chapter goes like this:

But the nostalgia of those carefree years - before I had learnt of my father's legacy - would then be replaced by a sentiment of solidarity, so much deeper and so much more meaningful, even if when, faced with the unbearable loss and the huge misery of the populations I visited, I could feel at times totally disarmed, and if my efforts would appear so futile in the face of their ordeal. But I don't regret a thing, except for the cruelty which humans keep on inflicting upon each other, as if they have never learnt anything from history.

Albert Russo is a master of African Literature, and, as opposed to Westerners who find it so difficult to understand the African sentiment, Albert has brought into life that period of the Belgian Congo and Rwanda which very few Congolese writers could shed light on.

My friend Brett Beiles is a well known poet living in Durban. His father was a popular medical practitioner who had the support of a clientele of every racial group and was equally loved by all. I asked Brett if he knew of any Congolese writer living in Durban. To my greatest surprise he introduced me to Jean-Marie Spitaels who happens to be a medical practitioner like me. I sent Jean the links to Congo Connection 1 and 2.

He wrote me back, 'I indeed remember you reading poetry to us and showing us your painting. I have published two books on my life in Congo. They are both written in French, ‘Le Vol d'une Hirondelle’ (Flight of a Swallow) in 2003 (Durban) and 2004 (Paris) and ’Lignes Tracées’ (Lines drawn), by Jean Cornet (my pen name) in 2007

'In the Flight of a Swallow', Jean Cornet keeps a chronicle of lacerations of his mind:

From childhood in Europe to the present days in Southern Africa, the author, a retired medical practitioner will take your hand to lead you from the slimy cobblestones of the North to the quivering swamps of the South. Forget historical or geographical accuracy but listen to a story told by a bard about events which took place in some fairy land. An infant has memories of American and German soldiers; an adolescent discovers the aloofness of bush hunting but ends up as a medical man, disgruntled in useless service. Inner peace is found at last by writing for those children whose soul has not been devoured by modern machinery.

His letter to me -

Dear Amitabh

I am not sure how I can help you any further short of translating the whole book in English and I prefer somebody else would do that.

I beg to differ about some of the "facts" reported in your articles.

1 : Patrice Lumumba was not kidnapped by Belgian paratroops but by the Congolese army under the orders of Mobutu. I was a medical student in Leopoldville at the time of (July 1960) independence and the speech delivered by Lumumba then, full of hate, reminds me of how Mugabe speaks now.

2 : Mike Hoare was a soldier, and a good one at that, he could indeed control his men, to the degree of shooting the rogue ones! He was confronted with mobs of indoctrinated (and drugged) youngsters who believed in being protected against bullets which would then be transformed into water (May in Swahili) by the sheer power of the mind. So those kamikaze men, armed with spears, charged at the mercenary shouting "May Mulele".

What would you have done in the position of Mike Hoare, Sir?

Have you been confronted by an African mob? I have.

3 : "Evil colonialism has inflicted ?"

This is a cliché!

I met wonderful men and women in Congo who dedicated themselves to uplifting the life conditions of local populations. My uncle, Franciscan missionary, was one of them.

I added my little bit.

I believe Africa, like the Phoenix, will come back reborn from his cinders when it stops blaming the "white man" for all its ailments.

Accept my apologies for being direct

Sincerely

Jean - Marie

General Laurent Nkunda breaks into a hearty laughter when I ask him about his possibilities of him becoming the President of Congo. Refraining from answering my question he says 'I want people like you with me who understand the heart of Congo'. South Africa lost the chance of attracting the best brains from all over the world when it resorted to democracy.

Congo Connection 2

Amitabh Mitra — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:26:36 EST

It’s warm in Johannesburg in December and so is Kinshasa. Somewhere at a plush estate in Midrand a deal of millions of dollars of armaments is being made. The gun sellers fuel the civil wars in Africa by selling modern weaponry made in the former USSR to all the factions. In turn lucrative deals in mining and contracts are given by the respective parties. The Zimbabwean army’s involvement in the civil war in Congo was done after such contracts were given to the generals and close relatives of the presidency.

But then this is Africa.

The 1994 Rawandan genocide, in which 500,000 ethnic Tutsis were massacred, left the world without any remorse. It was just another group of Africans being killed. The Hutus who took part in the genocide found refuge in the neighbouring Congo. They formed their organisation, calling themselves the Democratic forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The rag tag Congolese warlords who don’t believe in any politics except money rally behind a group known from the colonial era, as the Mai Mai tribal fighters and now a part of a loose group with the Government Congolese army, calling themselves as Congolese Resistance Patriots Group.

The presence in DR Congo of the FDLR, which has been accused by the UN of taking a leading role in the Rwanda killings, has led to the formation of opposition forces such as General Nkunda's National Committee for the Defence of the People (CNDP).The Tutsis a minority living in Congo are being systematically slaughtered by the Government forces and the Hutu rebels. CNDP was formed by General Laurent Nkunda who is a Congolese himself and allegedly being assisted by neighbouring Rawanda.

Meanwhile at a small private airfield close to the Johannesburg International Airport, an aircraft takes off for Kinshasa. It’s nothing unusual but the aircraft being flown by a white South African took off without any permission and above all without paying for the craft for which a deal was being made. The craft loaded with the most modern weaponry landed safely in Kinshasa.

The Russian mafia in Johannesburg to whom the craft belonged were informed too late after the bird had flown the coop.

DR Congo government forces and CNDP fighters have been battling each other in the east of the country since August. More than 250,000 people have fled their homes to escape the fighting. 100000 have died to malnutrition, disease and the bullet.Government soldiers and Nkunda's men have both been accused of atrocities against civilians.

UN peacekeepers have had little impact in putting a stop to the violence. It’s the same way the United Nations Peace Keepers acted in Rawanda when the Tutsis were being massacred. General Nkunda knows about it and doesn’t worry about the MONUC, the UN Peace Keeping Force in Congo. The MONUC in turn have also been blamed for atrocities and sexual assaults in Eastern Congo. Under the garb of United Nations it is a documented fact that they plundered and resorted to rapes in Liberia.

But let me go back again to the Belgian Congo. Robert Edric is a Britisher from Sheffield, a prolific writer, his book titled ‘The Book of Heathen’ published in 2000 by Black Swan is a gripping story based on the Belgian Congo.His novel starts with these lines -

Imagine how we might now be forced to reconsider our understanding of the situation were the so called heathen of the Bula Matari (Congo Free State) to contain among his multitudes men capable of keeping accounts of these terrible events of this shameful history told only once – imagine his own books and what they might tell us – imagine then how we might be forced to live with our disgraceful part in all of this.

Roger Casement Diary – 20 July 1893

The story narrated in the words of James Charles Russel Frasier is a map maker and a Technical overseer with the ‘Company’ which is the arm of the Belgian Government in Congo. It revolves around his friend Nicholas Frere who has killed a native girl and continues on Frere’s time in the prison. It is about the robbing of the country and the manipulation of its people by outsiders…and the manipulation of those outsiders by its people. And above all the conflicts between the varying tribes of outsiders who all have their own agenda.

The world around them is changing rapidly. The horrors of the Belgian Congo are becoming known and the flow of its once-fabulous wealth is drying up. Turn of the century and the Belgian Congo is on the cusp of independence... scapegoats must be found for the evils colonialism has inflicted.

There is mention about the apparent barbarity of the local tribes - the days of cannibalism and witchcraft - against the merciless missionary and heartless trader. The colonial administrators and surveyors are portrayed as well-meaning but ineffectual, hearts in the right place…but with no real concept of the country they have taken to or what or how to deal with it.

Meanwhile the war in Congo continues abated. I remember the rotund rebel General Laurent Kabila in safari suits who visited South Africa a number of times in failed peace talks, ousted Mobutu in May 20 1997. Che Guevara assisted Kabila for a short time in 1965. He planned to bring a Cuban Style revolution which unfortunately never succeeded. Kabila used the Tutsis from South Kivu to fight against the Hutu soldiers of Mobutu. What followed was mayhem and murder all along the jungle path till Kabila reached Kinshasa.

Laurent Kabila was assassinated by one of his own soldiers on the afternoon of January 16 2001. His son Joseph Kabila became the President and found allies in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola. Everything seems to point at controlling the mineral rich resources in Congo.

Paul Pumphrey, the founding member of Friends of the Congo says,

“This problem ... is created around the industrialised world wanting to get their hands on the mineral resources of the Congo," he said.

"Outside forces want to rob the minerals out of the Congo and not pay a fair share for those minerals. And they've used this war as a means to push people off their land and not pay royalties and the government at all.

"Ninety per cent of [the Congo's] population do not make $100 a year. So where would they buy guns from? These guns coming into this war are coming in from other sources, not the local community.

"Industry works hand in hand with government ... Countries like the United States, like Great Britain, like France, like Japan, these are countries whose governments operate on the behest of their corporations.

"So I hold countries like the United States very much responsible for this war.

"This militia raised millions of dollars to fund their war through the illegal trade in minerals, says the BBC's Thomas Fessy in Kinshasa

Reference - The Book of the Heathen – Robert Edric, Published by Black Swan 2000

-Wikipedia

To be continued

Iraq - Shoe-ing Away The Question

Suresh Naig — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:28:18 EST

Asking a question is very important for development. A society which is discouraged from asking questions, is a society deprived of development. A person is not expected to ask a question in an autocratic state and it may even cost the life of a person, if the question happened to be uncomfortable to the ruler. Even in a democratic country, many people have lost their lives, asking uncomfortable questions. They are known as “whistle blowers”, and in the recent past an engineer from Karnataka, Manjunath had paid with his life in Bihar, for asking uncomfortable questions to road contractors and Highways department Babus.

However we might have been deprived of many useful things for the society, if Issac Newton had not asked that question, ‘why an apple falls down?’ Had Alexander Fleming not asked that vital question, ‘why one mould is interfering with the growth of another mould’, we might have been deprived of anti-biotics – the powerful arsenal in medicine to fight infections.

Had Gandhi not asked that question, ‘why I am not allowed to travel in first class compartment, even after paying for it?’ we would not have experienced a non-violent philosophy “ahimsa”. The whole Bhagavat Geeta is a treatise in the form of questions and answers, and the central theme of Zen philosophy is only questions.

However, certain questions could be embarrassing in diplomatic parlance, even if it happened to be true. Our earlier Prime Minister Morarjee Desai was known for his diplomatic lapses, by his pointed and uncomfortable questions. He reportedly walked straight to one of the aides, who accompanied the Soviet Premier to India and asked, ‘are you from KGB?’ to the embarrassment of MEA personnel. However they were happy, that their Prime Minister, who was a proponent of “auto urine therapy”, did not offer his “favourite drink” to the Russian delegation.

Though we have been benefited by the answers for certain freak questions, we are better off, by not asking one question, which does not have an answer. This question is an expression of our wishful thinking and the question is “what if it’s true?”

Two persons had asked the above question in Bangalore and they were poorer by few lakhs of rupees. One had asked the question on receiving a mail in his mail box, declaring him as the winner of an international lottery. The other asked the question in response to a mail asking him to be a conduit, in retrieving huge funds stashed away in a foreign country. I am sure most of us would have received these mails and we ignored it, because we are not gullible.

At times even many top leaders showed traits of gullibility, by not only asking that question themselves, but also instigating others to ask the same question ‘what if it’s true?, for certain information which is worth shoeing away.

By not shoeing away the information pertaining to WMD (weapons of mass destruction), Bush had asked the question ‘what if it’s true?’ and he got shoe-d away in Iraq.

Congo Connection 1

Amitabh Mitra — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:35:27 EST

Many years back I had been staying at a Bed and Breakfast place in Pretoria while studying at the university there. This boarding house was economically suitable to students like me and was bereft of nearly all luxuries. It was run by a Philippino couple to whom I would always remain grateful. Every day morning all the boarders use to meet over a frugal breakfast after which we all moved out to our specific destinations.

It was during one such breakfast get togethers , I noticed an elderly white gentleman who always sat alone at a table in the corner. I approached him one day and asked his permission to sit at his table.

‘No problem young man, Welcome’, he countered

I gave vent to my curiosity and asked him about his life

"You see my dear friend I actually belong to the Belgian Congo. I came to South Africa in the seventies and have been here since then. I never married and I actually live in this boarding house’. He said while applying margarine over his bread

He continued with his story over tea and sandwiches while I hung on to all his words.

"I own about sixty odd properties in Johannesburg ranging from houses to flats in premier locations which have been rented. I have a manager who looks after my real estate and keeps in touch with me on the phone’, he revealed with a mysterious smile, ‘but he too doesn’t know my whereabouts’.
‘

I was born in the Belgian Congo in Leopoldville’. He had the same look on his face as a person in South Africa who would mention about Salisbury. ‘My father had a thriving business in timber and furniture but then the revolution arrived. I and my brother had to flee to South Africa’.
‘

I stay here, only sometimes I go to Paris where I have an apartment but it is philately that keeps me going. After the breakfast and going through all the South African newspapers, I am on the phone selling and buying stamps around the globe’. He concluded with a ringing laughter.
‘Now tell me, he asked, would you tell anybody about me’
I looked at his smiling eyes and the crow feet at its angles, ‘perhaps not’ I said

I had forgotten about him until recently when I saw the young rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda in Eastern Congo dancing with his soldiers. A tall handsome man, he is always found smiling. He holds a staff at all times the same way Charles Taylor use to do in Liberia. But Congo and Liberia are different and so is General Nkunda.

The Belgian Congo achieved independence on June 30, 1960 under the name "Republic of Congo" or "Republic of the Congo" ("République du Congo"). Shortly after independence, the provinces of Katanga (led by Moise Tshombe) and South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership. On January 17, 1961, Katangan forces and Belgian paratroops, supported by foreign interests intent on copper and diamond mines in Katanga and South Kasai, kidnapped and executed Patrice Lumumba. Patrice Lumumba who won the parliamentary elections by a big margin was elected as the Prime Minister. Much later I would come across the Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow.

Following five years of instability and civil unrest, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, now Lieutenant General, overthrew President Kasavubu in a 1965 coup. He had the support of the United States because of his staunch opposition to Communism. A one-party system was established, and Mobutu declared himself the head of state.

In a campaign to identify himself with African nationalism, starting on June 1, 1966, Mobutu renamed the nation's cities: Léopoldville became Kinshasa [the country was now Democratic Republic of The Congo – Kinshasa], Stanleyville became Kisangani, and Elisabethville became Lubumbashi. This renaming campaign was completed in the 1970s. In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire, its fourth name change in 11 years and its sixth overall. The Congo River was renamed the Zaire River. In 1972, Mobutu renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga.

I came across a book titled ‘The African Giant, the story of a journey’ by Stuart Cloete and published by Collins of London in January 1957.

In his chapter aptly titled ‘The Land of Masks’ about Congo, he writes,
Renders had been in the Belgian Resistance and had been taken by the Gestapo. While being examined by them, he saw a girl hanging by her hand, her back completely stripped of flesh. One is surprised and shocked at ritual murder and cannibalism among Africans, and one forgets the horrors of the concentration camps of Europe –of the Gestapo, the Russian secret police, even the chain gangs of Florida and the lynchings of the South. Yet the African killings of the fetishists and doctors are to them, a form of preventive medicine, of worship and religion, which gives them some justification.

His conversation with the Governor-General goes like this –
‘Ah, monsieur’ the Governor – General said, ‘there are great anti-colonial factions in the world. UNO, America, India can see no good in what we do. Even some people in England, but as you have seen, we have done a lot and continue to do more and more. But the more industrial schools and hospitals, the more evolution there is, the quicker will the African demand the right to self- government. We forge weapons against ourselves. And what those others who criticise us, forget is that one does not destroy the mysticism of thousands of years in a generation. The African here as elsewhere, remains at once too eager and too recalcitrant; eager for the outward semblance of civilization, and recalcitrant as far as its inner meaning and ethics are concerned,’

The conversation ended when I said: “Your Excellency, what would happen if the white man left the Congo? How long would it last? ”

“A few years,” he said, “because we have built well. The buildings will stand.”

“And then?” I said

“Then, monsieur, the forest will return.”

This is what would happen in Africa if the white man left the country. War - a hundred wars at once. The destruction of the so called evolved or civilised blacks by the peasant farmers and a slipping back into the great African sleep from which we have attempted to arouse the continent.

Stuart Cloete believed passionately on the white man, who is god chosen to lead in Africa and the ugly claws of ‘communism’ that was slowly poisoning the African mind. In his dedication he writes, ‘ I dedicate The African Giant to the white men who have given their lives to Africa….’ At no point he had mentioned the plunder of the African soil by the settlers. Many years later Mad Mike Hoare led a mercenary action in Katanga from South Africa killing thousands of men women and children by aimless firing at huts as he drove by. He also believed on the communist threat as written in his book Congo Mercenary. He lives in Durban.

In May 1997, Mobutu left the country, and Kabila marched into Kinshasa, naming himself president and reverted the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mobutu’s generals fled to South Africa with diamonds and sacks of foreign currency. They live behind high walls, electrified gates, manned by round the clock security and protected by vicious dogs in the suburbs of Johannesburg. They remind me of Major Dalim who assassinated Sheik Mujib and continued living under such protection. I met a few of them and under conditions of anonymity told me of life under General Mobutu.

References – Wikipedia
-The African Giant by Stuart Cloete Published by Collins, London 1957

Poem: Children of Congo

Kashkin — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:53:07 EST

Your war
Then why us
Or is it mine
Then why you
Or is it of the rebels
Then why us

Your land
Or my land
Or is it of the rebels

Only our hands and hunger
You depict, in the pictures
Only you fight for land and greed
Not for hunger and poverty
Old politics hard to let go
As you walk past my remains
Carved out
From your shells and bullets

I remember you once
Stood here with all in idealism
Now only the ash
You return, to thank us.

Book Review: The Book of Saladin by Tariq Ali

Vinod Joseph — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:00:52 EDT

In The Book of Saladin, Tariq Ali goes back a few centuries from his first book, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. This second novel in Tariq Ali’s Islam Quintet is set in the 12th Century and is narrated by Ibn Yakub, a Jewish scribe retained by Saladin to pen his memoirs.

As the name suggests, The Book of Saladin revolves around Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty and the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. All most people know, Saladin’s biggest achievement was the recapture of Jerusalem from the Crusaders and its defense against subsequent invasions. Tariq Ali has done an excellent job in portraying Saladin’s character. Saladin is not your average, run-of-the-mill brave King who dashes off into danger without a second thought. Instead, Saladin is shown as a schemer and a planner who has only one objective in mind – the re-capture of Jerusalem from the crusaders. A Kurd from the mountains, Saladin lives by the Kurd’s code of honour. He will do anything to honour his word. A simple man, he leads a non-ostentatious life, eats simple food and gives away most of his wealth to charity. He leads by example, albeit in a calculated manner. He avoids giving battle unless the conditions favour him. He is cruel only when necessary and treats his defeated adversaries generously.

Ali does not gloss over Saladin’s weaknesses. Saladin can be indecisive at times, taking his caution to an extreme. Many a time, especially towards the end of his life, Ali shows how Saladin failed to seize the moment.

At the beginning of the novel, Ali uses Halima’s story to tell us the sort of man Saladin is. Halima is a beautiful women sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. Saladin manages to save her from the jaws of death, but uses her for his own ulterior needs. I’ll leave it to you to read the book and find out what exactly Saladin does with Halima.

Unlike in the Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, where Ali mentions only the Arabic versions of place names, in this book Ali uses English names, slipping in the Arabic version (such as Al-Kuds for Jerusalem) occasionally. I do think that Ali ought to have followed the practice of using Arabic names as he did in his first book, for they helped create an ambiance which is lacking in the second novel from his Islam Quintet.

In addition to portraying Saladin’s character, Ali gives his readers a feel of the sort of society that prevailed in the Damascus and Cairo of those days. Not only are the ruling elite and the nobility shown to be extremely promiscuous, the multitudes are also shown as having a very relaxed attitude towards prostitution and homosexuality. Ali’s female characters are strong-willed, just as in the Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. As I had mentioned in my review of the earlier book, I do wish Ali has given some indication of the sources from which he has obtained his back-ground information.

A few things in this book, I didn’t like at all. Saladin is a Kurd and Ali depicts how tough it was for an ‘outsider’ to climb the sleazy ladder of power in an overwhelmingly Arab world. However, Ali refers to the Kurdish language as the ‘Kurdish dialect,’ implying that Kurdish is a dialect of Arabic. This I find to be totally unacceptable. Kurdish is a language in its own right and not a dialect. It is a part of the Iranian family of languages, while Arabic is a Semitic language. A historian of Ali’s calibre should not, nay, cannot make a mistake of this nature.

Even though this novel is very much non-Euro-centric and looks at the re-conquest of Jerusalem solely from Saladin’s point of view, Saladin does introduce to his readers, two crusaders, namely Raymond of Tripoli and Reynald of Châtillon. According to Ali, the former is the good guy, whilst the latter is pure evil. In order to emphasise how evil Reynald is, Ali says that Reynald ‘led a raid on Mecca and desecrated our Holy Shrine. His horses defecated in the Mosque.’ Raymond and Reynald are both historic figures. It is widely accepted that Reynald was quite evil (though quite successful in many of his endeavours) and that he did launch ships on the Red sea that sought to threaten Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holy cities, a sort of tit-for-tat response to Saladin’s attempt to retake Jerusalem. However, to make the case that Reynald desecrated the Mosque in Mecca is taking fiction too far. There are no records of Mecca ever having been desecrated by any crusader, let alone by Reynald. If such an event had happened, I’m sure it would be talked about and never forgotten. In fact, the narrator of the tale, Ibn Yakub himself doesn’t know about this desecration until he enquires why Saladin hates Reynald so much and finds out.

Tariq Ali does something very similar in order to show Saladin’s high regard for Raymond, the good guy. On his way to Jerusalem, Saladin captures various coastal towns held by the crusaders. However, at Tyre, Saladin hesitates and he eventually by-passes it. When his emirs press him, Saladin’s tells them that the cost to human life would be too high to be worth it. Ibn Yakub tells us the real reason for Saladin’s behaviour - that Raymond is holed up in the castle at Tyre and, if there’s a fight Saladin will have to kill Raymond (whose sense of honour will not let him surrender). If Ali wanted to show Saladin as a man who put friendships above his mission to capture Jerusalem, he does succeed. However, this story doesn’t ring true and it is an accepted fact that Saladin, wily man that he was, preserved Raymond’s life in order to encourage in-fighting among the crusaders.

Tariq Ali’s depiction of battles in this novel is not very good. Even after making allowances for the fact that the narrator is a scribe who is not present at the battle scene, I was disappointed at the way the actual battles are described. In a book of over 360 pages, just a small chapter is devoted to the battle of Hattin in which Saladin destroyed the crusaders as a prelude to taking Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem and its capture gets done in a few pages. I do wish Ali had taken a page from Andrew Wheatcroft’s book Infidels which describes battles between crusaders and Muslim armies in an exemplary fashion.

A lot has been written about the mutual admiration and appreciation that supposedly developed between Saladin and Richard the Lion-hearted who never met. Ali however does not take the beaten path. Saladin is shown to view Richard with contempt.

As a final comment, I ought to mention that Tariq Ali has devoted some space (in the initial part of the book) to the destruction of the Fatimid Empire by Saladin as he consolidated his power in Egypt. The Fatimid Empire was in its final stages of decay when Saladin finished them off. The most important aspect of the Fatimid dynasty is that it was Shi’ite. Saladin hated the Fatimids for splitting up the Caliphate (and thus contributing towards disunity amongst the Ummah). He is also shown as viewing the Fatimids as heretic Shi’ites. This portrayal of Saladin’s approach to the Fatimids is not exactly in keeping with Saladin’s character as shown in the rest of the book, where he is (very rightly) shown as an extremely tolerant ruler for his time. At the height of their glory (much before Saladin’s time), Cairo under the Fatimids was a centre of learning and culture. The Fatimids were very tolerant of other faiths, including that of the Sunnis. But alas, Tariq Ali’s description of the Fatimids does not show them in a positive light. After Saladin extinguished the Fatimid Empire, Shi’ites never held any real power in the Arab world (other than in Syria where the Shi’ite Alawi sect is in power) until very recently when George Bush’s largesse has allowed them to acquire power in Iraq.