Afrika What!

Mzantsi's uproar: A demonstration of craze

2009-10-02T11:45:00.000+02:00

Freedom! Free to be, free to do, free to live, free to eat, free to love, free to be free! My inspiration for this passage emerged from recent thoughts of Stephen Bantu Biko’s legacy and how we as new generation revolutionaries will pass the baton.

Freedom is carefully defined by noninterventionists as the ability to act without restraint from the government, or more clumsily, and socialistically defined as the ability to have access to particular resources from the government without constraint. Many have chewed and subsequently spat remnants of the term, so much so that they have created a spitting well of ‘knowledge’ and insight into this broad notion. But is freedom really what we seek or is ‘free will’ rather what we desire? I am baffled as to whether, in definition, freedom is to be coupled with ‘governance’. For governance is synonymous with supremacy, domination and power. Where’s the freedom therein? Then there are terms such as good governance, participatory government, service delivery and such. The South Africa nation has hit a deadlock in terms of roll out. Societies are lately scattered by immediate need yet anon affixed through widespread militancy. The residents of Khutsong are not all mentally disturbed. Kliptown has seen better reputation. Just last night Protea was added to the list. Voices have been silenced but our rulers refuse to listen.

My inquisitive, but primary school mentality insists on an enquiry, and wonders what it means for ‘the people’ to govern. What will the government lose if compliant? On the contrary, ‘the people’ lose poise along with their right to free will. Red ants continue to plague us daily in the city while no contingent plans exist. When will WE barricade the streets in pursuit of freedom? Our young Azanian freedom, the culmination of torture, death, despair and ultimately democracy-a demonstration of craze- is perpetually threatened by our thirst to dominate and rule.

As the whole world is on their feet, fighting similar issues of democracy and injustice, we continue to mirror their actions for hope of “a better life for all”. Africa needs an urgent intervention. Our traditional and other, more modern, leadership is ravaged by power struggles and awaiting ill advise from western adversaries. But a powerful black voice still shouts: “There shall be no minority, there shall be no majority, there shall just be people”, father Biko preached. This is not the freedom he fought for.

Quite simply, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Simplicity complicated! The nature of the human is such that we strive to be above others, and in that pursuit, easily falter by being one another’s enemy. My own journey to happiness and levity in abundance rests upon others’ wellbeing. For it is in vein that we hope to achieve in separation from each other. It begins with one soul, and each one continues to teach one. If we let our inner freedom resonate from within, the whole world rejoices.

Say my name...bitch

2009-09-21T10:48:00.000+02:00

so a coupla days ago i discovered that a soul i consider a friend didn't even know my damn name!...and REACT i did, quite over the top but needed to make a point. white people so often exist within a comfort realm of sorts - not having to understand any other language but english and not having to even know how to greet in any one of the 9 other indegenous official SA languages. this freaks me out completely, considering the numbers of black people expected to be literate/proficient in a far-from-mother-tongue language in order to earn consideration as an integral part of society and be useful and progressive in the majority of all thriving world communities. this is the kinda shit that has our parents' names changed to "sarah", "jacob" and "patricia" just to make it easy for the madam and baas.

so when i candidly asked "what's his name" to merely spell/say my name, and his response was far from what i introduced myself as, i hit the roof! in all of the seven occassions that we have fellowshiped and clearly connected, he has not once attempeted to say "Sibongile", never mind even ask me to tell him my name again...to which i would have obliged, with a smile that bites back at his ignorance, but nonetheless, i would have! and his ultimate excuse...wait for it..."i'm bad with names"! oh shit nigga, you didn't just say that!

for every 5 calls i take at work, 3 motherfuckers can't say my name...my natural response is to first tutor (5 attempts, afterwhich i give up on you if you can't say it...but at least you tried!)...and if you don't ask for spelling/pronouciation/mea

ning, i assume you're on point!

my name is a fundamental part of who i be...it is permission for another to get to know me and engage with me...it tells (though short) a story of where i come from and where i'm going (depending on how i pronounce it)...so your sorry ass better say my name RIGHT bitch!

crash update

2009-06-15T10:03:00.000+02:00

so it's been a while since my last entry and there's no excuse for it. why do we blog anyway? so people can have a peep into our lives as they should be?...definately not as they are because we shape that which we tell. today i'll tell you the whole truth though. i've been failing, succeeding at failing, hitched, then not, in love...like 3 times or something, finally found my feet, then lost them again, ultimately struggling to be alone because i'm still not used to it. doing that now in a different place, east london off the eastern cape coast of mzansi...mind you...during the confed cup 2009.

in a foreign place until it's not so foreign any more, but still unfamiliar because no matter how much i try to fit in, i'm still just a farm girl from the 80's...the age of the wretched. maybe i should save this for tomorrow in hopes of a new, different perspective on things.

Black Buddah

2007-07-28T05:58:00.000+02:00

by John R. Mooor.
The statues of ancient Buddahs of the East depected him as having wolly hair is always shown in corn rows, or in a pepper corn style with small tight curls. Original statues of Buddha clearly show him to be Africoid, with the wide nose, thick lips and frizzy, nappy, hair which are distinctive Negro characteristics. In most ancient temples throughout Asia where he is still worshipped, he is shown as jet Black. In fact, in most of the ancient temples of Asia and India, statues of the gods and goddesses have Africoid features with woolly hair in the pepper corn style, while some even have dreadlocks. These pictures of Buddha portray him in no uncertain terms as a Negro with kinky, coiled hair, a flat nose and full lips.

1) Buddha - Thailand, 7th Century 2) Buddha - India 3) Buddha - China 4) Buddha - Vietnam

1) Buddha- Javanese 2) Buddha- Japan 3) Buddha in ancient Japanese temple

1) Buddha- Thailand 2) Buddha- Siam 3) Massai man from Kenya

Note the ears of this modern Massai man from Kenya and compare to the Buddhas.There are absolutely no historical records that portray Buddha as Aryan or White.The first people who conceptualized and worshipped the divine image of the Negroid mould of humanity were the Negroes, and they actually started the practice of Buddhism, the world's first missionary religion.

Buddha was an Enlightened Master from the Sakya clan of the Naga Race, and was the first man on earth to preach the great principles of equality, liberty and fraternity. He caused the Nagas to become conscious of their own mind power as opposed to the mantra power.
Buddhism, whose doctrines include the Golden Rule, was established 500 years before Christianity in the area now called the Middle East (Africa). Buddha is not a name but a title meaning Enlightened One, Blessed One, or to Become awake. Over the centuries, there have been several recorded Buddhas like Gautama, Sakayanumi, and Siddhartha. Black Buddhist missionaries introduced Buddhism to China, Japan and other countries.
It is clear therefore that Buddhism did not start in Japan nor China, yet it is professed and practiced by millions of devotees throughout Asia. Under the Black King Ashoka, the religion of this Negro God was spread throughout Europe, even into the remotest parts of Britain. Buddhism actually started on the India Continent where the first inhabitants were Black people who had migrated from Ethiopia some 50,000 years earlier, establishing what is known as the Indus Valley Civilization.

There were two types of Blacks from Africa who created the first civilization of mankind. One was the Nubian, who had broad features and Woolly, Nappy hair, while the other had the aquiline nose with straight hair,(Dravidian) but both were early descendents straight out of Black Africa.

Modern Black people of Southern IndiaThis Negrito or Ethiopian Black initiated the first migration out of Africa. The next migration was by the Australian Aboriginal. Intermixing between the two groups produced the people of the Indus Valley, then the Paleo Mongoloid race or the Mediterranean Black Mongoloid also came and intermixed, and together, these types made up what is known as India (which means Black). During the time of the Buddha 2,500 years ago (500 B.C.), Black-African people were in the seat of world power, but about 500 years ago the Aryans invaded Northern India causing the native inhabitants to seek sanctuary in the southern areas of India. Battles for supremacy in the Indus Valley between these savage white barbarians and the indigenous Blacks for control of the Black lands lasted for over 1,000 years, and were recorded in The Rig Veda in the form of hymns, which were actually prayers to white Gods to defeat the Blacks. Being unable to defeat the Black Nagas outright because of their advanced military tactics, these nomadic Ayans resorted to corrupting and distorting the Ancient Texts written by the Blacks to create this racist colour caste as a last resort to dominate the Blacks. This corrupted version of the Black's religion (varna system), ensured their superiority while suppressing the Blacks, in much the same way that their European cousins did later through Christianity and Judaism.These nomadic, uncivilized, barbaric tribes of whites who invaded India were in fact civilized by the Blacks, but like their Greek relatives, these whites overthrew the Blacks and destroyed their magnificent civilization.

Orissa women from northeast India. Note the similarity in jewellery worn compared to the African women below.

1) Woodabi woman from West Africa 2) Ndabele woman from South Africa

After defeating the Black people, the Aryans (whites) instituted the worst kind of inhumanity in human history against this group of people, in the form of a caste system where Black people were treated worst than animals.
This anti-Black caste system was originally called Brahmanism but is better known as Hinduism, the greatest curse to the Blacks (Sutras) of India. This Aryan, Hindu religion, which is a form of sanctified racism and the source of their devious, oppressive religious ideology, was designed to control and enslave the mind, body and soul of the indigenous Black people of India who had respect for all human beings, and even assured equal status to women. Although a type of caste system was already in place before the whites arrived, the Brahmin intensified and exploited it, putting themselves at the top of the Hindu caste system, while the heavily exploited, degraded, humiliated, slave-like, impoverished so called �Untouchables� who carry the weight of the entire population on their shoulders, are on the bottom rung of this social ladder. These Blacks are the worse victims of Hindu society.
Indian society consisted of four basic groups. 1. Brahmins (priesthood) 2. Kshatriyas (the warrior class) 3. Vaishyas (the merchant class) 4. Sudras / Untouchables / outcastes, the hated ones who refused to compromise or surrender to Aryan dominance.

� These outcast in India consist of the agricultural labourers who are kept segregated in every village.
� They had to eat the carcasses of dead animals.

� They could only eat from broken plates.

� They had to tie a cup around their necks to catch their spit because it was considered to be contaminating.

� They had to tie a broom to their rear ends to hide their tracks, since crossing such tracks was forbidden and deemed to be polluting.

� They could only enter the white neighbourhood at night because their shadow was defiling.

� Blacks had to clean corpses and wear the clothes of the dead.

� Their women were relegated to the function of common prostitutes.
This racist system goes hand in hand with the Brahmin religion which is disguised as Hinduism.
In between the wars and the beginning of Brahminism, the Black Buddha and his Buddhist teachings emerged, starting out as a type of reformist Hinduism to eradicate this demonic system and teach enlightenment for all. King Ashoka and Buddha fought against this Aryan penetration and racist caste system, helping to bring the Black Naga Indians back to a level of high civilization. However, this reign by the Blacks of India was hindered mainly because of disunity among India's Blacks, combined with trickery and deceit by the Aryan invaders.
Aryans did not practice this Black Buddhist religion, neither was Buddha an Indo Aryan as advocated by World Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda. In fact the Aryans despised Buddhism and destroyed Buddhist universities, even murdering Buddhist scholars, because it preached equality. Though the caste system was originally based on skin colour, it is not the main problem since some dark skinned people can be found at the top of this corrupt, immoral, ungodly system. The problem is the sanctioned oppression of the Black Untouchables for whom there is no justice, and against whom crimes by caste Hindus go unpunished.By the way, those whites are erroneously referred to as Aryan by historians, which is in fact a stolen word from the Sanskrit language of India's Blacks, meaning Noble Cultivator or The Holy, a title reserved for the Rishis or sages who had mastered the sacred science of Aryasatyani. White Christians exploited Christianity and persuaded the Roman Catholic Church to authorize slavery in America, setting out to prove that Black people were lower than the chimpanzee and without a soul. They concealed and distorted the history of this ancient great Black civilization. However, seeing that there was no need for slave labour in India as it existed in America, the White Indians reduced Blacks to an inferior slave position through the Brahman/Hindu religion. Historians, scientists and archaeologists for centuries have covered up and made insignificant historical findings that reveal an African creation or even a connection to many of the world's first civilizations as was the case in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Moorish Spain, Shang and Shia China and Mexico. The denial of the contributions to ancient civilizations and the systematic cover-up is based on the maintenance of the myth that Black/African people are inferior as was promoted in Europe, India and the Americas to make slavery acceptable.

Source: http://mindwarz.com/media/buddah

Celebrity efforts may send wrong message about Afrikans

2007-06-14T09:35:00.000+02:00

By Zine Magubane

June 13, 2007

In a few days Vanity Fair magazine will debut its first Africa issue -- an
extravaganza of generous glitterati and anguished Africans. Celebrities are
the latest generation of Western philanthropists to take up the "White Man's
Burden." Their activism, although well-intentioned, reinforces the image of
Africans as helpless victims while overshadowing the significant efforts
Africans are making to stem the tide of poverty and disease on the
continent.

Christian missionaries, who came to Africa in the 19th Century bearing the
ideology of "Christianity, civilization and commerce," strategically
packaged and disseminated images of Africans suffering. Ethnographic
showcases, where Africans were displayed as freaks and circus attractions,
were closely tied to the evangelical enterprise. The publicity material for
these exhibits often made reference to famous missionaries and, likewise,
missionaries counted on ethnographic showcases to further interest in their
missionary work. Because publicity was so strongly linked to fundraising,
sensationalism was the hallmark of evangelical charitable appeals.

In ways that hearken back to the 19th Century, current knowledge about
Africa is being produced and disseminated via celebrity-fueled spectacles.
When viewers see "Brangelina" -- actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -- and
their brood in Namibia, or George Clooney being featured in People speaking
about Darfur, the Africans in question become, essentially, a colorful
backdrop; their only function is to look miserable, as the intensity of
their suffering bears a direct correlation to their utility in helping a
celebrity build his or her brand.

Christian missionaries depicted Africans as primitives who could only be
lifted out of their misery by the charitable actions of benevolent
Europeans. Contemporary celebrities, if they are to capture attention and
enhance their reputation as philanthropists, must also present themselves as
pioneers, bringing ideas about peace, health and prosperity to unenlightened
Africans. As a result, they not only traffic in stereotypes of Africans as
hopelessly mired in poverty and disease, they also ignore the successful
initiatives pioneered by Africans, on the continent and abroad.

Contemporary media coverage would lead a person to believe that celebrity
fundraising and foreign aid are the only source of income for Africa's poor.
Actually, remittances from Africans living and working in the U.S. and
Europe provide one of the largest sources of African "foreign aid." Ghana's
diaspora, for example, remitted $3 billion in 2004, more than 40 percent of
its gross domestic product.

While it is commendable that many celebrities realize that having paparazzi
flashbulbs capture them in refugee camps, rather than in rehab centers, can
play a critical role in raising public awareness, nevertheless one has to
wonder why celebrities are rarely photographed interacting with African aid
workers, doctors, lawyers, social workers peacekeepers or workers from
non-governmental organizations. Watching the coverage of celebrities
visiting Darfur, for example, one would never guess that of the 14,000 aid
workers in Darfur, nearly 13,000 are Sudanese. Anyone watching concerts like
Live 8, and seeing the red-carpet coverage of "Ocean's Thirteen", would be
hard-pressed to imagine that Africa is host to thousands of talented
musicians, actors, playwrights, novelists, fashion designers and models.

Celebrities bring attention to issues that might otherwise be ignored. They
would be of even more help, however, if they showcased the efforts of, and
worked with, Africans. An old adage holds that if you give a man a fish he
eats for a day, if you teach him to fish he eats for a lifetime. Africans
know how to fish -- if only Angelina and Brad would show Africans helping
themselves. ---------- Zine Magubane is a professor of sociology and African
studies at Boston College.
Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune

Conversations with Lickers

2007-05-21T04:42:00.000+02:00

Desbo: I STOPPED SMOKING GANJA

Lesego: ^^^^^^^HIGH AS f**k

Desbo: I know you're the last person to believe it...but do believe it cos it's true. I spoke to a friend of mine about it. He used to smoke a lot of ganja in the past, he even used to do shrumes. He says he just found himself disinterested in smoking and refrained from it also because he believes it made him slower, and less "on the ball".

Unfortunately, I have to concur. And for the same reasons, I now find myself free of herb...I must say it feels great...although I think I have some sort of withdrawal symptoms (vivid and bad dreams, irritability, and just plain craving of the habit).

Qalo: damn, does that mean you won't even roll one joint for me. fellow kush*tes, desbo rolls the phatest joints!!!!

Nceba: 4 sure 'm one of the best joint rollers, thanks to desbo. I guess its not hard quiting ,but you just miss the habit of smoking not ganja. the were many called, few are choosen. Not everything is for us all. More ganja for us. Don't start discriminating now that you don't find the use of ganja. Hope you'll still hang and host more parties with ganja. luv

Desbo: I would consider rolling a joint for you, Q. I just won't share in the high . Funny enough, I don't really have cravings, just for the smoking habit, but not the ganja itself. That's a revelation, pot-heads. This alone disproves the theory of physical addiction. The addiction is rather mental, in that you miss the feeling of being high, being in a different state of mind, and having profound thoughts...but that's where it ends, nothing physical really. You see, thing with ganja is that once abused, you're sort of coerced into thinking you're better off high than not. A friend of mine would often say "life's just so boring without ganja..." (and this is a white ass woman, so no spiritual attachment to herb there). And it seems so, just as the alcoholics justify their boozing. This is a huge no, no in trying to curb the cycle of dependence (on anything). I honestly feel great, like I'm missing out on nothing.

I'm not one to dictate to anyone how to live their lives (like most non-lickers I know). And in fact, I'd roll you a blunt just cos, arguably, I'm the best at it but I do urge everyone to introspect and reflect upon their reasons for licking...only then can you fully own the act (and stop blaming it on addiction), and freely indulge in it.

Because of my research background, I was inclined to do the following: I'm offering all interested parties sessions on 'Understanding the cycle of dependence'. These include meditation and reasoning sessions (high/not high...so i can document the variations in thought), smoking sessions (believe it or not...with me 'sober' as hell so I can document the variations in thought).

Disclaimer: Information presented and disseminated at sessions is public property, and may or may not be shared by participants at their discretion. These sessions are provided "AS IS" ('voetstoots') and on an "IS AVAILABLE" basis, without any appointments or endorsements made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of satisfactory quality, non- infringement, privacy and security.

Nuff said.

EvoLokxion, Vosloorus

2007-05-20T11:55:00.000+02:00

Evolokxion in Vosloo has proven, beyond reasonable doubt, to be one of the hottests spots to be on a Sunday afternoon! This is a not-so-new street initiative to uplift ghetto yuts in an evolved manner....through showcasing wicked bands and selektas such as Crack Jazz foundation, a jazz/hip hop outfit made to last! These guys' music is mirrored on the outdated but rockers beats of the 80's hipidy hop. The lead MC deserves some props for bringing it all to life with his inspirationally conscious lyricism.

Q&A on Tanz trip

2007-05-20T11:44:00.000+02:00

Q Yo Des, ya blog says you went around the region, let us have a Q n A
1) how safe is it
2) did they treat you guys different because you black, and they are used to wandering devils
3) what natural beauty hit you the most
4) what was it like speaking Setswana ko Botswana
5) did you find residual Zulus, spoils of the Mfecane anywhere
6) cost-wise, can crap car do the trip too
maybe more later

A Quick answers to your relevant questions:

1) It's definitely safer than SA! we slept in the car 5 of the 10 nights that we spent away! I would basically just stop and park at the nearest, safest looking spot and we'd crash...no one ever bothered us, except that in Zim we had to pay for it (you pay for absolutely everything there), to be in a SECURE yard, in front of a police station.

2) funny, ha ha! I thought they treated us differently cos we were either of lighter complexion (in certain areas like Zambia), or we spoke better English (in areas like Zim/Malawi), or plainly because we were from SA, and generally expected to have more money (Zim, Zambia, Mozambique). Otherwise the people of Tanzania LOVE their language (of love), Kiswahili, and they don't wanna ever speak English...we heard to learn a few phrases to keep up.

3) MALAWI...that was the most amazing, and unexpected. we sort of stumbled upon a Nkhatha Bay...heaven! Got there at night, didn't see sh*t till the morning...what an amazing sight!

4) Botswana was ok, except that we lost our drums (animal skin, djembes), and the cops there don't play! They don't take bribes (unlike in Zim and ALL borders). It's always belittling speaking Tswana in Botswana...but also, we had been away so long we were desperate to speak our own language, so it wasn't so bad. It was great to be able to communicate cos we were in trouble, I had hit a cow, and you know how much those people value their livestock!

5) Not really...I mean certain of the African Nguni languages sound a bit like Zulu, but NO.

6) let me put it this way...if I were traveling alone, I may as well have taken a flight! The border fees are HIGH like a motha! excluding the bribes to get the car across without a letter from the SAPS confirming that it's NOT STOLEN! We f**ked up that car (Audi A4, 1995), had 2 punctures, hit a cow, and just general wear and tear. we're still paying today.

100 African things you should know

2007-05-20T11:38:00.000+02:00

The human race is of African origin. The oldest known skeletal remains of anatomically modern humans (or homo sapiens) were excavated at sites in East Africa. Human remains were discovered at Omo in Ethiopia that were dated at 195,000 years old, the oldest known in the world.

2. Skeletons of pre-humans have been found in Africa that date back between 4 and 5 million years. The oldest known ancestral type of humanity is thought to have been the australopithecus ramidus, who lived at least 4.4 million years ago.

3. Africans were the first to organise fishing expeditions 90,000 years ago. At Katanda, a region in northeastern Zaïre (now Congo), was recovered a finely wrought series of harpoon points, all elaborately polished and barbed. Also uncovered was a tool, equally well crafted, believed to be a dagger. The discoveries suggested the existence of an early aquatic or fishing based culture.

4. Africans were the first to engage in mining 43,000 years ago. In 1964 a hematite mine was found in Swaziland at Bomvu Ridge in the Ngwenya mountain range. Ultimately 300,000 artefacts were recovered including thousands of stone-made mining tools. Adrian Boshier, one of the archaeologists on the site, dated the mine to a staggering 43,200 years old.

5. Africans pioneered basic arithmetic 25,000 years ago. The Ishango bone is a tool handle with notches carved into it found in the Ishango region of Zaïre (now called Congo) near Lake Edward. The bone tool was originally thought to have been over 8,000 years old, but a more sensitive recent dating has given dates of 25,000 years old. On the tool are 3 rows of notches. Row 1 shows three notches carved next to six, four carved next to eight, ten carved next to two fives and finally a seven. The 3 and 6, 4 and 8, and 10 and 5, represent the process of doubling. Row 2 shows eleven notches carved next to twenty-one notches, and nineteen notches carved next to nine notches. This represents 10 + 1, 20 + 1, 20 - 1 and 10 - 1. Finally, Row 3 shows eleven notches, thirteen notches, seventeen notches and nineteen notches. 11, 13, 17 and 19 are the prime numbers between 10 and 20.

6. Africans cultivated crops 12,000 years ago, the first known advances in agriculture. Professor Fred Wendorf discovered that people in Egypt’s Western Desert cultivated crops of barley, capers, chick-peas, dates, legumes, lentils and wheat. Their ancient tools were also recovered. There were grindstones, milling stones, cutting blades, hide scrapers, engraving burins, and mortars and pestles.

7. Africans mummified their dead 9,000 years ago. A mummified infant was found under the Uan Muhuggiag rock shelter in south western Libya. The infant was buried in the foetal position and was mummified using a very sophisticated technique that must have taken hundreds of years to evolve. The technique predates the earliest mummies known in Ancient Egypt by at least 1,000 years. Carbon dating is controversial but the mummy may date from 7438 (±220) BC.

8. Africans carved the world’s first colossal sculpture 7,000 or more years ago. The Great Sphinx of Giza was fashioned with the head of a man combined with the body of a lion. A key and important question raised by this monument was: How old is it? In October 1991 Professor Robert Schoch, a geologist from Boston University, demonstrated that the Sphinx was sculpted between 5000 BC and 7000 BC, dates that he considered conservative.

9. On the 1 March 1979, the New York Times carried an article on its front page also page sixteen that was entitled Nubian Monarchy called Oldest. In this article we were assured that: “Evidence of the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history, preceding the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations, has been discovered in artifacts from ancient Nubia” (i.e. the territory of the northern Sudan and the southern portion of modern Egypt.)

10. The ancient Egyptians had the same type of tropically adapted skeletal proportions as modern Black Africans. A 2003 paper appeared in American Journal of Physical Anthropology by Dr Sonia Zakrzewski entitled Variation in Ancient Egyptian Stature and Body Proportions where she states that: “The raw values in Table 6 suggest that Egyptians had the ‘super-Negroid’ body plan described by Robins (1983). The values for the brachial and crural indices show that the distal segments of each limb are longer relative to the proximal segments than in many ‘African’ populations.”

11. The ancient Egyptians had Afro combs. One writer tells us that the Egyptians “manufactured a very striking range of combs in ivory: the shape of these is distinctly African and is like the combs used even today by Africans and those of African descent.”

12. The Funerary Complex in the ancient Egyptian city of Saqqara is the oldest building that tourists regularly visit today. An outer wall, now mostly in ruins, surrounded the whole structure. Through the entrance are a series of columns, the first stone-built columns known to historians. The North House also has ornamental columns built into the walls that have papyrus-like capitals. Also inside the complex is the Ceremonial Court, made of limestone blocks that have been quarried and then shaped. In the centre of the complex is the Step Pyramid, the first of 90 Egyptian pyramids.

13. The first Great Pyramid of Giza, the most extraordinary building in history, was a staggering 481 feet tall - the equivalent of a 40-storey building. It was made of 2.3 million blocks of limestone and granite, some weighing 100 tons.

14. The ancient Egyptian city of Kahun was the world’s first planned city. Rectangular and walled, the city was divided into two parts. One part housed the wealthier inhabitants – the scribes, officials and foremen. The other part housed the ordinary people. The streets of the western section in particular, were straight, laid out on a grid, and crossed each other at right angles. A stone gutter, over half a metre wide, ran down the centre of every street.

15. Egyptian mansions were discovered in Kahun - each boasting 70 rooms, divided into four sections or quarters. There was a master’s quarter, quarters for women and servants, quarters for offices and finally, quarters for granaries, each facing a central courtyard. The master’s quarters had an open court with a stone water tank for bathing. Surrounding this was a colonnade.

16 The Labyrinth in the Egyptian city of Hawara with its massive layout, multiple courtyards, chambers and halls, was the very largest building in antiquity. Boasting three thousand rooms, 1,500 of them were above ground and the other 1,500 were underground.

17. Toilets and sewerage systems existed in ancient Egypt. One of the pharaohs built a city now known as Amarna. An American urban planner noted that: “Great importance was attached to cleanliness in Amarna as in other Egyptian cities. Toilets and sewers were in use to dispose waste. Soap was made for washing the body. Perfumes and essences were popular against body odour. A solution of natron was used to keep insects from houses . . . Amarna may have been the first planned ‘garden city’.”

18. Sudan has more pyramids than any other country on earth - even more than Egypt. There are at least 223 pyramids in the Sudanese cities of Al Kurru, Nuri, Gebel Barkal and Meroë. They are generally 20 to 30 metres high and steep sided.

19. The Sudanese city of Meroë is rich in surviving monuments. Becoming the capital of the Kush*te Empire between 590 BC until AD 350, there are 84 pyramids in this city alone, many built with their own miniature temple. In addition, there are ruins of a bath house sharing affinities with those of the Romans. Its central feature is a large pool approached by a flight of steps with waterspouts decorated with lion heads.

20. Bling culture has a long and interesting history. Gold was used to decorate ancient Sudanese temples. One writer reported that: “Recent excavations at Meroe and Mussawwarat es-Sufra revealed temples with walls and statues covered with gold leaf”.

21. In around 300 BC, the Sudanese invented a writing script that had twenty-three letters of which four were vowels and there was also a word divider. Hundreds of ancient texts have survived that were in this script. Some are on display in the British Museum.

22. In central Nigeria, West Africa’s oldest civilisation flourished between 1000 BC and 300 BC. Discovered in 1928, the ancient culture was called the Nok Civilisation, named after the village in which the early artefacts were discovered. Two modern scholars, declare that “fter calibration, the period of Nok art spans from 1000 BC until 300 BC”. The site itself is much older going back as early as 4580 or 4290 BC.

23. West Africans built in stone by 1100 BC. In the Tichitt-Walata region of Mauritania, archaeologists have found “large stone masonry villages” that date back to 1100 BC. The villages consisted of roughly circular compounds connected by “well-defined streets”.

24. By 250 BC, the foundations of West Africa’s oldest cities were established such as Old Djenné in Mali.

25. Kumbi Saleh, the capital of Ancient Ghana, flourished from 300 to 1240 AD. Located in modern day Mauritania, archaeological excavations have revealed houses, almost habitable today, for want of renovation and several storeys high. They had underground rooms, staircases and connecting halls. Some had nine rooms. One part of the city alone is estimated to have housed 30,000 people.
26. West Africa had walled towns and cities in the pre-colonial period. Winwood Reade, an English historian visited West Africa in the nineteenth century and commented that: “There are . . . thousands of large walled cities resembling those of Europe in the Middle Ages, or of ancient Greece.”

27. Lord Lugard, an English official, estimated in 1904 that there were 170 walled towns still in existence in the whole of just the Kano province of northern Nigeria.

28. Cheques are not quite as new an invention as we were led to believe. In the tenth century, an Arab geographer, Ibn Haukal, visited a fringe region of Ancient Ghana. Writing in 951 AD, he told of a cheque for 42,000 golden dinars written to a merchant in the city of Audoghast by his partner in Sidjilmessa.

29. Ibn Haukal, writing in 951 AD, informs us that the King of Ghana was “the richest king on the face of the earth” whose pre-eminence was due to the quantity of gold nuggets that had been amassed by the himself and by his predecessors.

30. The Nigerian city of Ile-Ife was paved in 1000 AD on the orders of a female ruler with decorations that originated in Ancient America. Naturally, no-one wants to explain how this took place approximately 500 years before the time of Christopher Columbus!

31. West Africa had bling culture in 1067 AD. One source mentions that when the Emperor of Ghana gives audience to his people: “he sits in a pavilion around which stand his horses caparisoned in cloth of gold: behind him stand ten pages holding shields and gold-mounted swords: and on his right hand are the sons of the princes of his empire, splendidly clad and with gold plaited into their hair . . . The gate of the chamber is guarded by dogs of an excellent breed . . . they wear collars of gold and silver.”

32. Glass windows existed at that time. The residence of the Ghanaian Emperor in 1116 AD was: “A well-built castle, thoroughly fortified, decorated inside with sculptures and pictures, and having glass windows.”

33. The Grand Mosque in the Malian city of Djenné, described as “the largest adobe building in the world”, was first raised in 1204 AD. It was built on a square plan where each side is 56 metres in length. It has three large towers on one side, each with projecting wooden buttresses.

34. One of the great achievements of the Yoruba was their urban culture. “By the year A.D. 1300,” says a modern scholar, “the Yoruba people built numerous walled cities surrounded by farms”. The cities were Owu, Oyo, Ijebu, Ijesa, Ketu, Popo, Egba, Sabe, Dassa, Egbado, Igbomina, the sixteen Ekiti principalities, Owo and Ondo.

35. Yoruba metal art of the mediaeval period was of world class. One scholar wrote that Yoruba art “would stand comparison with anything which Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece and Rome, or Renaissance Europe had to offer.”

36. In the Malian city of Gao stands the Mausoleum of Askia the Great, a weird sixteenth century edifice that resembles a step pyramid.

37. Thousands of mediaeval tumuli have been found across West Africa. Nearly 7,000 were discovered in north-west Senegal alone spread over nearly 1,500 sites. They were probably built between 1000 and 1300 AD.

38. Excavations at the Malian city of Gao carried out by Cambridge University revealed glass windows. One of the finds was entitled: “Fragments of alabaster window surrounds and a piece of pink window glass, Gao 10th – 14th century.”

39. In 1999 the BBC produced a television series entitled Millennium. The programme devoted to the fourteenth century opens with the following disclosure: “In the fourteenth century, the century of the scythe, natural disasters threatened civilisations with extinction. The Black Death kills more people in Europe, Asia and North Africa than any catastrophe has before. Civilisations which avoid the plague thrive. In West Africa the Empire of Mali becomes the richest in the world.”

40. Malian sailors got to America in 1311 AD, 181 years before Columbus. An Egyptian scholar, Ibn Fadl Al-Umari, published on this sometime around 1342. In the tenth chapter of his book, there is an account of two large maritime voyages ordered by the predecessor of Mansa Musa, a king who inherited the Malian throne in 1312. This mariner king is not named by Al-Umari, but modern writers identify him as Mansa Abubakari II.

41. On a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 AD, a Malian ruler, Mansa Musa, brought so much money with him that his visit resulted in the collapse of gold prices in Egypt and Arabia. It took twelve years for the economies of the region to normalise.

42. West African gold mining took place on a vast scale. One modern writer said that: “It is estimated that the total amount of gold mined in West Africa up to 1500 was 3,500 tons, worth more than $****30 billion in today’s market.”

43. The old Malian capital of Niani had a 14th century building called the Hall of Audience. It was an surmounted by a dome, adorned with arabesques of striking colours. The windows of an upper floor were plated with wood and framed in silver; those of a lower floor were plated with wood, framed in gold.

44. Mali in the 14th century was highly urbanised. Sergio Domian, an Italian art and architecture scholar, wrote the following about this period: “Thus was laid the foundation of an urban civilisation. At the height of its power, Mali had at least 400 cities, and the interior of the Niger Delta was very densely populated”.

45. The Malian city of Timbuktu had a 14th century population of 115,000 - 5 times larger than mediaeval London. Mansa Musa, built the Djinguerebere Mosque in the fourteenth century. There was the University Mosque in which 25,000 students studied and the Oratory of Sidi Yayia. There were over 150 Koran schools in which 20,000 children were instructed. London, by contrast, had a total 14th century population of 20,000 people.

46. National Geographic recently described Timbuktu as the Paris of the mediaeval world, on account of its intellectual culture. According to Professor Henry Louis Gates, 25,000 university students studied there.

47. Many old West African families have private library collections that go back hundreds of years. The Mauritanian cities of Chinguetti and Oudane have a total of 3,450 hand written mediaeval books. There may be another 6,000 books still surviving in the other city of Walata. Some date back to the 8th century AD. There are 11,000 books in private collections in Niger. Finally, in Timbuktu, Mali, there are about 700,000 surviving books.

48. A collection of one thousand six hundred books was considered a small library for a West African scholar of the 16th century. Professor Ahmed Baba of Timbuktu is recorded as saying that he had the smallest library of any of his friends - he had only 1600 volumes.

49. Concerning these old manuscripts, Michael Palin, in his TV series Sahara, said the imam of Timbuktu “has a collection of scientific texts that clearly show the planets circling the sun. They date back hundreds of years . . . Its convincing evidence that the scholars of Timbuktu knew a lot more than their counterparts in Europe. In the fifteenth century in Timbuktu the mathematicians knew about the rotation of the planets, knew about the details of the eclipse, they knew things which we had to wait for 150 almost 200 years to know in Europe when Galileo and Copernicus came up with these same calculations and were given a very hard time for it.”

50. The Songhai Empire of 16th century West Africa had a government position called Minister for Etiquette and Protocol.
51. The mediaeval Nigerian city of Benin was built to “a scale comparable with the Great Wall of China”. There was a vast system of defensive walling totalling 10,000 miles in all. Even before the full extent of the city walling had become apparent the Guinness Book of Records carried an entry in the 1974 edition that described the city as: “The largest earthworks in the world carried out prior to the mechanical era.”

52. Benin art of the Middle Ages was of the highest quality. An official of the Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde once stated that: “These works from Benin are equal to the very finest examples of European casting technique. Benvenuto Cellini could not have cast them better, nor could anyone else before or after him . . . Technically, these bronzes represent the very highest possible achievement.”

53. Winwood Reade described his visit to the Ashanti Royal Palace of Kumasi in 1874: “We went to the king’s palace, which consists of many courtyards, each surrounded with alcoves and verandahs, and having two gates or doors, so that each yard was a thoroughfare . . . But the part of the palace fronting the street was a stone house, Moorish in its style . . . with a flat roof and a parapet, and suites of apartments on the first floor. It was built by Fanti masons many years ago. The rooms upstairs remind me of Wardour Street. Each was a perfect Old Curiosity Shop. Books in many languages, Bohemian glass, clocks, silver plate, old furniture, Persian rugs, Kidderminster carpets, pictures and engravings, numberless chests and coffers. A sword bearing the inscription From Queen Victoria to the King of Ashantee. A copy of the Times, 17 October 1843. With these were many specimens of Moorish and Ashanti handicraft.”

54. In the mid-nineteenth century, William Clarke, an English visitor to Nigeria, remarked that: “As good an article of cloth can be woven by the Yoruba weavers as by any people . . . in durability, their cloths far excel the prints and home-spuns of Manchester.”

55. The recently discovered 9th century Nigerian city of Eredo was found to be surrounded by a wall that was 100 miles long and seventy feet high in places. The internal area was a staggering 400 square miles.

56. On the subject of cloth, Kongolese textiles were also distinguished. Various European writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries wrote of the delicate crafts of the peoples living in eastern Kongo and adjacent regions who manufactured damasks, sarcenets, satins, taffeta, cloth of tissue and velvet. Professor DeGraft-Johnson made the curious observation that: “Their brocades, both high and low, were far more valuable than the Italian.”

57. On Kongolese metallurgy of the Middle Ages, one modern scholar wrote that: “There is no doubting . . . the existence of an expert metallurgical art in the ancient Kongo . . . The Bakongo were aware of the toxicity of lead vapours. They devised preventative and curative methods, both pharmacological (massive doses of pawpaw and palm oil) and mechanical (exerting of pressure to free the digestive tract), for combating lead poisoning.”

58. In Nigeria, the royal palace in the city of Kano dates back to the fifteenth century. Begun by Muhammad Rumfa (ruled 1463-99) it has gradually evolved over generations into a very imposing complex. A colonial report of the city from 1902, described it as “a network of buildings covering an area of 33 acres and surrounded by a wall 20 to 30 feet high outside and 15 feet inside . . . in itself no mean citadel”.

59. A sixteenth century traveller visited the central African civilisation of Kanem-Borno and commented that the emperor’s cavalry had golden “stirrups, spurs, bits and buckles.” Even the ruler’s dogs had “chains of the finest gold”.

60. One of the government positions in mediaeval Kanem-Borno was Astronomer Royal.

61. Ngazargamu, the capital city of Kanem-Borno, became one of the largest cities in the seventeenth century world. By 1658 AD, the metropolis, according to an architectural scholar housed “about quarter of a million people”. It had 660 streets. Many were wide and unbending, reflective of town planning.

62. The Nigerian city of Surame flourished in the sixteenth century. Even in ruin it was an impressive sight, built on a horizontal vertical grid. A modern scholar describes it thus: “The walls of Surame are about 10 miles in circumference and include many large bastions or walled suburbs running out at right angles to the main wall. The large compound at Kanta is still visible in the centre, with ruins of many buildings, one of which is said to have been two-storied. The striking feature of the walls and whole ruins is the extensive use of stone and tsokuwa (laterite gravel) or very hard red building mud, evidently brought from a distance. There is a big mound of this near the north gate about 8 feet in height. The walls show regular courses of masonry to a height of 20 feet and more in several places. The best preserved portion is that known as sirati (the bridge) a little north of the eastern gate . . . The main city walls here appear to have provided a very strongly guarded entrance about 30 feet wide.”

63. The Nigerian city of Kano in 1851 produced an estimated 10 million pairs of sandals and 5 million hides each year for export.

64. In 1246 AD Dunama II of Kanem-Borno exchanged embassies with Al-Mustansir, the king of Tunis. He sent the North African court a costly present, which apparently included a giraffe. An old chronicle noted that the rare animal “created a sensation in Tunis”.

65. By the third century BC the city of Carthage on the coast of Tunisia was opulent and impressive. It had a population of 700,000 and may even have approached a million. Lining both sides of three streets were rows of tall houses six storeys high.

66. The Ethiopian city of Axum has a series of 7 giant obelisks that date from perhaps 300 BC to 300 AD. They have details carved into them that represent windows and doorways of several storeys. The largest obelisk, now fallen, is in fact “the largest monolith ever made anywhere in the world”. It is 108 feet long, weighs a staggering 500 tons, and represents a thirteen-storey building.

67. Ethiopia minted its own coins over 1,500 years ago. One scholar wrote that: “Almost no other contemporary state anywhere in the world could issue in gold, a statement of sovereignty achieved only by Rome, Persia, and the Kushan kingdom in northern India at the time.”

68. The Ethiopian script of the 4th century AD influenced the writing script of Armenia. A Russian historian noted that: “Soon after its creation, the Ethiopic vocalised script began to influence the scripts of Armenia and Georgia. D. A. Olderogge suggested that Mesrop Mashtotz used the vocalised Ethiopic script when he invented the Armenian alphabet.”

69. “In the first half of the first millennium CE,” says a modern scholar, Ethiopia “was ranked as one of the world’s greatest empires”. A Persian cleric of the third century AD identified it as the third most important state in the world after Persia and Rome.

70. Ethiopia has 11 underground mediaeval churches built by being carved out of the ground. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD, Roha became the new capital of the Ethiopians. Conceived as a New Jerusalem by its founder, Emperor Lalibela (c.1150-1230), it contains 11 churches, all carved out of the rock of the mountains by hammer and chisel. All of the temples were carved to a depth of 11 metres or so below ground level. The largest is the House of the Redeemer, a staggering 33.7 metres long, 23.7 metres wide and 11.5 metres deep.

71. Lalibela is not the only place in Ethiopia to have such wonders. A cotemporary archaeologist reports research that was conducted in the region in the early 1970’s when: “startling numbers of churches built in caves or partially or completely cut from the living rock were revealed not only in Tigre and Lalibela but as far south as Addis Ababa. Soon at least 1,500 were known. At least as many more probably await revelation.”

72. In 1209 AD Emperor Lalibela of Ethiopia sent an embassy to Cairo bringing the sultan unusual gifts including an elephant, a hyena, a zebra, and a giraffe.

73. In Southern Africa, there are at least 600 stone built ruins in the regions of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. These ruins are called Mazimbabwe in Shona, the Bantu language of the builders, and means great revered house and “signifies court”.

74. The Great Zimbabwe was the largest of these ruins. It consists of 12 clusters of buildings, spread over 3 square miles. Its outer walls were made from 100,000 tons of granite bricks. In the fourteenth century, the city housed 18,000 people, comparable in size to that of London of the same period.

75. Bling culture existed in this region. At the time of our last visit, the Horniman Museum in London had exhibits of headrests with the caption: “Headrests have been used in Africa since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs. Remains of some headrests, once covered in gold foil, have been found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe and burial
76. Dr Albert Churchward, author of Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, pointed out that writing was found in one of the stone built ruins: “Lt.-Col. E. L. de Cordes . . . who was in South Africa for three years, informed the writer that in one of the ‘Ruins’ there is a ‘stone-chamber,’ with a vast quantity of Papyri, covered with old Egyptian hieroglyphics. A Boer hunter discovered this, and a large quantity was used to light a fire with, and yet still a larger quantity remained there now.”

77. On bling culture, one seventeenth century visitor to southern African empire of Monomotapa, that ruled over this vast region, wrote that: “The people dress in various ways: at court of the Kings their grandees wear cloths of rich silk, damask, satin, gold and silk cloth; these are three widths of satin, each width four covados , each sewn to the next, sometimes with gold lace in between, trimmed on two sides, like a carpet, with a gold and silk fringe, sewn in place with a two fingers’ wide ribbon, woven with gold roses on silk.”

78. Southern Africans mined gold on an epic scale. One modern writer tells us that: “The estimated amount of gold ore mined from the entire region by the ancients was staggering, exceeding 43 million tons. The ore yielded nearly 700 tons of pure gold which today would be valued at over $******7.5 billion.”

79. Apparently the Monomotapan royal palace at Mount Fura had chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. An eighteenth century geography book provided the following data: “The inside consists of a great variety of sumptuous apartments, spacious and lofty halls, all adorned with a magnificent cotton tapestry, the manufacture of the country. The floors, cielings , beams and rafters are all either gilt or plated with gold curiously wrought, as are also the chairs of state, tables, benches &c. The candle-sticks and branches are made of ivory inlaid with gold, and hang from the cieling by chains of the same metal, or of silver gilt.”

80. Monomotapa had a social welfare system. Antonio Bocarro, a Portuguese contemporary, informs us that the Emperor: “shows great charity to the blind and maimed, for these are called the king’s poor, and have land and revenues for their subsistence, and when they wish to pass through the kingdoms, wherever they come food and drinks are given to them at the public cost as long as they remain there, and when they leave that place to go to another they are provided with what is necessary for their journey, and a guide, and some one to carry their wallet to the next village. In every place where they come there is the same obligation.”

81. Many southern Africans have indigenous and pre-colonial words for ‘gun’. Scholars have generally been reluctant to investigate or explain this fact.

82. Evidence discovered in 1978 showed that East Africans were making steel for more than 1,500 years: “Assistant Professor of Anthropology Peter Schmidt and Professor of Engineering Donald H. Avery have found as long as 2,000 years ago Africans living on the western shores of Lake Victoria had produced carbon steel in preheated forced draft furnaces, a method that was technologically more sophisticated than any developed in Europe until the mid-nineteenth century.”

83. Ruins of a 300 BC astronomical observatory was found at Namoratunga in Kenya. Africans were mapping the movements of stars such as Triangulum, Aldebaran, Bellatrix, Central Orion, etcetera, as well as the moon, in order to create a lunar calendar of 354 days.

84. Autopsies and caesarean operations were routinely and effectively carried out by surgeons in pre-colonial Uganda. The surgeons routinely used antiseptics, anaesthetics and cautery iron. Commenting on a Ugandan caesarean operation that appeared in the Edinburgh Medical Journal in 1884, one author wrote: “The whole conduct of the operation . . . suggests a skilled long-practiced surgical team at work conducting a well-tried and familiar operation with smooth efficiency.”

85. Sudan in the mediaeval period had churches, cathedrals, monasteries and castles. Their ruins still exist today.

86. The mediaeval Nubian Kingdoms kept archives. From the site of Qasr Ibrim legal texts, documents and correspondence were discovered. An archaeologist informs us that: “On the site are preserved thousands of documents in Meroitic, Latin, Greek, Coptic, Old Nubian, Arabic and Turkish.”

87. Glass windows existed in mediaeval Sudan. Archaeologists found evidence of window glass at the Sudanese cities of Old Dongola and Hambukol.

88. Bling culture existed in the mediaeval Sudan. Archaeologists found an individual buried at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in the city of Old Dongola. He was clad in an extremely elaborate garb consisting of costly textiles of various fabrics including gold thread. At the city of Soba East, there were individuals buried in fine clothing, including items with golden thread.

89. Style and fashion existed in mediaeval Sudan. A dignitary at Jebel Adda in the late thirteenth century AD was interned with a long coat of red and yellow patterned damask folded over his body. Underneath, he wore plain cotton trousers of long and baggy cut. A pair of red leather slippers with turned up toes lay at the foot of the coffin. The body was wrapped in enormous pieces of gold brocaded striped silk.

90. Sudan in the ninth century AD had housing complexes with bath rooms and piped water. An archaeologist wrote that Old Dongola, the capital of Makuria, had: “a . . . eighth to . . . ninth century housing complex. The houses discovered here differ in their hitherto unencountered spatial layout as well as their functional programme (water supply installation, bathroom with heating system) and interiors decorated with murals.”

91. In 619 AD, the Nubians sent a gift of a giraffe to the Persians.

92. The East Coast, from Somalia to Mozambique, has ruins of well over 50 towns and cities. They flourished from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries AD.

93. Chinese records of the fifteenth century AD note that Mogadishu had houses of “four or five storeys high”.

94. Gedi, near the coast of Kenya, is one of the East African ghost towns. Its ruins, dating from the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, include the city walls, the palace, private houses, the Great Mosque, seven smaller mosques, and three pillar tombs.

95. The ruined mosque in the Kenyan city of Gedi had a water purifier made of limestone for recycling water.

96. The palace in the Kenyan city of Gedi contains evidence of piped water controlled by taps. In addition it had bathrooms and indoor toilets.

97. A visitor in 1331 AD considered the Tanzanian city of Kilwa to be of world class. He wrote that it was the “principal city on the coast the greater part of whose inhabitants are Zanj of very black complexion.” Later on he says that: “Kilwa is one of the most beautiful and well-constructed cities in the world. The whole of it is elegantly built.”

98. Bling culture existed in early Tanzania. A Portuguese chronicler of the sixteenth century wrote that: “hey are finely clad in many rich garments of gold and silk and cotton, and the women as well; also with much gold and silver chains and bracelets, which they wear on their legs and arms, and many jewelled earrings in their ears”.

99. In 1961 a British archaeologist, found the ruins of Husuni Kubwa, the royal palace of the Tanzanian city of Kilwa. It had over a hundred rooms, including a reception hall, galleries, courtyards, terraces and an octagonal swimming pool.

100. In 1414 the Kenyan city of Malindi sent ambassadors to China carrying a gift that created a sensation at the Imperial Court. It was, of course, a giraffe.

Monorail in Soweto, SA

2007-05-20T11:24:00.000+02:00

Q Anyone watch the Simpsons monorail episode? why would people use the monorail? they don't use the train to its full potential. I don't want to be negative but a monorail, that is so dumb. South Africans like cars, they don't want to walk, ride a bike or take public transport, it's not about getting from a to b, you know what it's about, anyone who can scrape up their pitons is gonna buy a car. Another dumbass thing is living like 30 km from your place of work, this is South Africa's favorite adventure, where's the sense in that? You see, when I walk to wherever I need to get, people think I am crazy. How are you gonna change that mentality? I think the monorail is just so someone can make money (yes, i am pointing out the blatantly obvious), but joe, why in the bleeding fock is it being allowed to go through?

A I think that we, especially the youth, are quick to make uninformed and critical but nonconstructive judgments with regards to all things that provide alternatives. The minute I heard the news of the monorail, I impulsively began to criticize the idea and its potential fruity. So, let's rather try to deconstruct that critical mentality by at least 1) recognizing that the SA public transport sh*tstem sucks tits, 2) starting to think up some combative ideas to curb this whack ass, non-service orientated taxi-travel bull dung, and 3)striving to be the 'world-class' city we profess to be.

Just tonight I was out in Newtown, without a car, and that mind-masturbating chip-chop session drove me to wishing I were in a different country, with subways and cheap cabs. There's no f**king way of getting home (whether it be in Soweto, Yeoville, or any varsity campus) if you decide to ditch a boring 40 buck Carfax gig (this place is WHACK)! Somebody's gotta do sum'ing 'bout this sh*t, guys.

Granted 1)..."the monorail is just so someone can make money", but you tell me what isn't??!! Let's act like we know, and move swiftly to the next thought cos that argument is so tired. 2)..."another dumb ass thing is living like 30 km from your place of work, this is South Africa's favorite adventure, where's the sense in that?". Your work should never dictate your social life. I ain't living in PTA any day soon bra...I'll keep traveling for the sake of my social life. 3)..."South Africans like cars, they don't want to walk, ride a bike or take public transport, it's not about getting from a to b, you know what it's about, anyone who can scrape up their pitons is gonna buy a car". I know exactly what that's all about, but you make your bed and lie in it. We all make choices, and those choices may be guided by our apartheid past, but that's no excuse to buy a brand new BMW 740i just cos Wesbank says you can afford it...whose to say, really! We blacks are often too quick to put blame on the past and too damn slow to own our future.

So all I'm saying, Ebe, is keep an open mind or come up with a better idea.

Politics of Speaking Well

2007-02-12T11:43:00.000+02:00

February 4, 2007

By LYNETTE CLEMETSON

WASHINGTON

SENATOR JOSEPH R. BIDEN’S characterization of his fellow Democratic presidential contender Senator Barack Obama as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” was so painfully clumsy that it nearly warranted pity.

There are not enough column inches on this page to parse interpretations of each of Mr. Biden’s chosen adjectives. But among his string of loaded words, one is so pervasive — and is generally used and viewed so differently by blacks and whites — that it calls out for a national chat, perhaps a national therapy session.

It is amazing that this still requires clarification, but here it is. Black people get a little testy when white people call them “articulate.”

Though it was little noted, on Wednesday President Bush on the Fox News Channel also described Mr. Obama as “articulate.” On any given day, in any number of settings, it is likely to be one of the first things white people warmly remark about Oprah Winfrey; Richard Parsons, chief executive of Time Warner; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Deval Patrick, the newly elected governor of Massachusetts; or a recently promoted black colleague at work.

A series of conversations about the word with a number of black public figures last week elicited the kind of frustrated responses often uttered between blacks, but seldom shared with whites.

“You hear it and you just think, ‘Damn, this again?’ ” said Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of humanities at the University of Pennsylvania.

Anna Perez, the former communications counselor for Ms. Rice when she was national security adviser, said, “You just stand and wonder, ‘When will this foolishness end?’ ”

Said Reginald Hudlin, president of entertainment for Black Entertainment Television: “It makes me weary, literally tired, like, ‘Do I really want to spend my time right now educating this person?’ ”

So what is the problem with the word? Whites do not normally object when it is used to describe them. And it is not as if articulate black people do not wish to be thought of as that. The characterization is most often meant as a form of praise.

“Look, what I was attempting to be, but not very artfully, is complimentary,” Mr. Biden explained to Jon Stewart on Wednesday on “The Daily Show.” “This is an incredible guy. This is a phenomenon.”

What faint praise, indeed. Being articulate must surely be a baseline requirement for a former president of The Harvard Law Review. After all, Webster’s definitions of the word include “able to speak” and “expressing oneself easily and clearly.” It would be more incredible, more of a phenomenon, to borrow two more of the senator’s puzzling words, if Mr. Obama were inarticulate.

That is the core of the issue. When whites use the word in reference to blacks, it often carries a subtext of amazement, even bewilderment. It is similar to praising a female executive or politician by calling her “tough” or “a rational decision-maker.”

“When people say it, what they are really saying is that someone is articulate ... for a black person,” Ms. Perez said.

Such a subtext is inherently offensive because it suggests that the recipient of the “compliment” is notably different from other black people.

“Historically, it was meant to signal the exceptional Negro,” Mr. Dyson said. “The implication is that most black people do not have the capacity to engage in articulate speech, when white people are automatically assumed to be articulate.”

And such distinctions discount as inarticulate historically black patterns of speech. “Al Sharpton is incredibly articulate,” said Tricia Rose, professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. “But because he speaks with a cadence and style that is firmly rooted in black rhetorical tradition you will rarely hear white people refer to him as articulate.”

While many white people do not automatically recognize how, and how often, the word is applied, many black people can recall with clarity the numerous times it has stopped them in their tracks.

Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, said her first notable encounter with the word was back in high school in Chester, Va., when she was dating the school’s star football player. In post-game interviews and news stories she started to notice that he was always referred to as articulate.

“They never said that about the white quarterback,” she said, “yet they couldn’t help but say it about my boyfriend.”

William E. Kennard, a managing director of the Carlyle Group and a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, recalled that in his days as partner at a Washington law firm in the early 1990s written reviews of prospective black hires almost always included the words, “articulate and poised.” The characterization was so consistent and in such stark contrast to the notes taken on white job applicants that he mentioned it to his fellow partners.

“It was a law firm; all of the people interviewing for jobs were articulate,” said Mr. Kennard, 50, who is also on the board of The New York Times Company. “And yet my colleagues seemed struck by that quality in black applicants.”

The comedian and actor D. L. Hughley, a frequent guest on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” says that every time he appears on the show, where he riffs on the political and social issues of the day, people walk up to him afterward and tell him how “smart and articulate” his comments were.

“Everyone was up in arms about Michael Richards using the N-word, but subtle words like this are more insidious,” Mr. Hughley said. “It’s like weight loss. The last few pounds are the hardest to get rid of. It’s the last vestiges of racism that are hard to get rid of.”

Sometimes the “articulate” moniker is merely implied. My colleague Rachel Swarns and I chuckle wearily about the number of times we have finished interviews or casual conversations with people — always white, more often male — only to have the person end the meeting with some version of the statement, “something about you reminds me of Condoleezza Rice.”

Neither Rachel nor I look anything like Ms. Rice, or each other for that matter, so the comparison is clearly not physical. The comment seems more a vocalized reach by the speaker for some sort of reference point, a context in which to understand us.

It is unlikely that whites will quickly or easily erase “articulate” and other damning forms of praise from the ways in which they discuss blacks. Listen for it in post-Super Bowl chatter, after the Academy Awards, at the next school board meeting or corporate retreat.

But here is a pointer. Do not use it as the primary attribute of note for a black person if you would not use it for a similarly talented, skilled or eloquent white person. Do not make it an outsized distinction for Brown University’s president, Ruth Simmons, if you would not for the University of Michigan’s president, Mary Sue Coleman. Do not make it the sole basis for your praise of the actor Forest Whitaker if it would never cross your mind to utter it about the expressive Peter O’Toole.

With the ballooning size of the black middle and upper class, qualities in blacks like intelligence, eloquence — the mere ability to string sentences together with tenses intact — must at some point become as unremarkable to whites as they are to blacks.

“How many flukes simply constitute reality?” Mr. Hudlin asked, with amused dismay.

Well said.

Mbozi [back] to Jozi

2007-01-10T11:16:00.000+02:00

The trip back? WOW what a schlep! Starting from the bumpiest of our farm rides, on a truck 'nogaal', back to our car at Adam's house. We were nowhere near ready for the trip back, and we were the first to admit that, before we even left. That could have well been the reason for our rocky return to SA.

Zambia welcomed us with a wave of paid-friendliness! There was no way we were going to escape the trap of a friendly face with an empty pocket, a hungry tummy, a selfish heart and a business mind! Mpika kept us there for 2 whole nights, add another whole one spent in Livingstone and you've got three unplanned stays in Zam. Livingstone saved us though, following our losses at Lusaka's thug infested streets while we had stopped to get dough, at least we could have a decent meal and a shower. We were dead broke, and had been looking soooo forward to our arrival at the biggest capital city we hit in our tour. In addition, our car lock was picked, and 2 bags and 2 phones stolen out of it. But on a high note, we checked out the Zambian ghetto...real ghetto I tell you...with ganja being sold on the streets and NO police presence...they get killed if they set foot there!

By the time we crossed the Zambezi, into Mugabe land once again, we were so fed up with ZAM/ZIM officials that we took some 'deadly' advise from a couple of whities telling us to rather cross through Botswana than Bulawayo. We lost our 2 drums in the process, along with a horn Supreme picked up in Malawi, due to foot and mouth desease control.

Moreover, deadly! Suicidal in fact! Cow-infested Botswanaland got us! We hit a cow, lost Rachel B (a tortoise we picked up along the road. Rachel A was left at the coffee farm), had to stay the night to fix our windscreen. We all agreed that we had been blessed with a second chance at life. Had that cow even brushed our car's body we'd be history! With all that done, it was time to head straight home. As far away from Jozi as Potties is, we felt safe the minute we were on SA soil!

Next trip to Ethiopia/Eritrea next holidays! Check this space!

Jozi to Mbozi

2007-01-08T11:52:00.000+02:00

So you were probably wondering what's happened to me hah! Well, I took a well deserved, poorly planned and least prepared for trip around the SADC region of Afrika this December. It turned out to be one of the greatest things I'll ever do in my lifetime!

Early morning start, like 06h00, with a refreshing drive to Polokwane. Bought 2 new tires for the road (but only kept one as a spare, much to our demise). Hit Beitbridge that afternoon, and proceded to Harare, where we stopped at a local police station in search for a safe haven to lay our heads. Were saved by a cop and an angel for the night.

Next morning, we soon found our way out of Mugabe land, heading for a taste of Mozambique. Although this was a short brush through this country, we ended up having to spend the night at the border (Mwanza) with Malawi.

T'was where the fun really began, where we saw victory in having already travelled that far, and the benefits of disorganisation began to reveal themselves. We serendipidously got lost on a road that took us to Nkhata Bay, a seemingly secluded beach area of the great Lake Malawi. Met some really helpful youngsters (Frank and Gibson), who introduced us to all the right people: the lady of the town (spouse to some German, and owner of several businesses in the area), and even went out of their way to get us some Banji...the Ganja...the best shit in town! Last time I had good Malawi was on my first visit out of SA, to Botswana...that was a 'minute' ago, I tell you. I'll never forget this place (Malawi), soon to return to it!

This energy boost got us rolling into Mbeya, Tanzania like we had a plan! None of that, in fact, we didn't even know whether David Robinson (DR) would be there to receive us, following attempts at spending thousands of Dollars and Kwacha to contact him.

The first night at our destination had us hanging out with the richest dude in the neighbourhood, owner of the Impala Lodge and Bar. Dude took great care of us...got us food and drink (mostly Fanta Pineapple), paid for a few games of pool at the club where Supreme landed on stage, bumbing something in English, which NOBODY (as strange as it may seem) understood a word of...they all spoke Kiswahili. He also took us into his home, where the good wife had been waiting up for him with a tray of Nsima and some other stuff on the table.

The next morning began with the first of a few bumpy farm rides to the 60 odd acres of coffeee land, owned by none other that Jackie's son....DR, and a few other peopls, I think. He has a blessed family indeed...great kids...all 10 or so of them!
And this was our final destination...

We got 1 lousy night out of our farm experience, and then it was time to get back on the road again...

Season's Greetings

2006-12-17T20:44:00.000+02:00

I wanted to send some sort of Christmas greeting to my friends and colleagues, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my attorney yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that South Africa is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

Regards
The Wisher
Sibongile Khumalo

J-sek to Parys!

2006-12-15T01:23:00.000+02:00

Subsequent to my dramatic, yet dignified, fall into a manhole in the small township of Munsieville, I have just returned to J-sek from a refreshingly different experience that was 'Outward Bound' in Venterskroon, a camping site on the edge of South Africa's fashion mecca, Parys. My December leave days began with a drive to a wonderfully secluded area for the 'Get-Away-From-Jozi' crew, which I'm certain everyone I know at least aspires to belong to! All thanks to the Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP)...Rodney* in particular, who coordinated an orientation/leadership camp for the newest 'class of 2011', expected to begin quality high school education at arguably some of the best schools Africa has ever seen.

These 'kids' (average age = 13) are great! Smart-assess, with lots to contribute to society, in terms of brain-power...the ability to think on their feet, their well-pondered responses to adult enquiries, their weighted opinions on any subject matter ranging from Harry Potter to NASA's next space shuttle launch. If I didn't know any better I'd say they were constantly and consistantly 'keeping up appearances'...or maybe in this case 'interview-drawn impressions and expectations therefrom'!

So what did I take away from this experience? A few underlying, but equally fundamental lessons regarding child-rearing and bearing...a wake up call to the reality that is 'responsibily'! I was deeply struck by these teens' varying personalities, yet all the result of similar influences. This alerted me to the value of effective/well-directed parenting upon the all important outcome variables that essentially shape this child! I met some individuals who reminded me of the shallow and ignorant teenager I once was. I reflected upon the thought processes that led me to this point, and with that, reaffirmed my 'decision' to not have children!...NOT until I am comfortable with the idea of having a mini-me!

Children are indeed the future that is so desperately calling to be considered when making plans to have them...take time to know dis!
*not necessarily his real name!

Gay Rangers

2006-12-02T09:57:00.000+02:00

Yesterday could well have been the saddest day in the history of marriage, as some of us have come to know it, as a religious concept meant to unify heterosexual lovers! And some may argue that Tom and Jerry have as much right to be together as Tom and, say Sue! Bollocks!, I say. Not that my opinion holds much water (as agnostic as some would like to think I am)!
South Africa's very first 'legal' (whatever that means) same-sex wedding ceremony took place in the small town of George, where 2 game/gay rangers exchanged somewhat distorted vows to each other in a court room. How fitting! We have now made our mark as the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex unions, and the only one in Africa where this is allowed! Are we slowly, but surely moving away from our Africanism, shaping the way for all of Azania's rebellion from it's mother African legacy of partnership between a man and a ('real')woman!? The Law has become an escape for many who would like to change all things bright and beautiful as they please. I would like to see this country become one of the first to legalise sensi (ganja), then we'll be talking!

What I find even more interesting is the fact that popular culture is embracing these rediculous unions! One of our most popular, and liked TV soapies, Isidingo has dedicated more than an episode to "give viewers an insight into gay marriages" and untimately "serve an educating role" in teaching South Africans about homosexuality, by incorporating a gay wedding into their seemingly flexible script. And the goal?: "When people see something on a daily basis through any public medium, such as TV, we know how powerful that is...they get used to it and see it as something normal"! But it's not!
When will this blatant brain-wash cease?

Long live AZANIA...and all that it stands for!

the 'truth'

2006-11-29T21:00:00.000+02:00

I've recently had to grapple with the issue of of what "the truth" really is! With regards to faith, I mean...spirituality...religion...what have you. Mind you, I consider myself quite spiritual, if the word means what I think it does: spir-it-ual adj., noun 1 connected with the human spirit, rather than the body or physical things!

In the past, I was a devoted, never-wavering, almost obsessive jesus freak...the obviously wrong path, because it didn't last (but that's another issue on its own). I'm an infamous control freak...the kind you stumble upon often; it's not a rare trait. Point is, my obsessive compulsivity will not let me have FAITH, in that sense! I see most things at face value now, no illusions. What you see if mos def what you get! And "the truth" for me is that ultimately there is NONE! Acknowledging that H.I.M is the way, for the elected many, is more of a choice than a truth..."the truth"! In that manner, spirituality and religion (arguably 2 separate issues) are undoubtedly subjective, wouldn't you agree? Otherwise those who faulter wouldn't have to wait to die to know it.

A rasta buddy of mine says: "ultimately, there is only one truth, the battle is in owning the truth, accepting the truth, and living by the truth"...then goes on to say: " people see truths differently, but a is not b and b is not a"! WORD!

Leon-the-Lion's Successor

2006-11-28T18:25:00.000+02:00

The arguments surrounding succession? Purely based on attracting 'Black voters'! Tony Leon has finally announced his desire to step down as the leader of the tired, white-minority-serving 'democratic' alliance (DA), and stated in no uncertain terms that it is clear to him that the DA has previously been bashed for 'neglecting' black issues and promoting white interests. And if you perhaps follow my line of thinking, you'd overstand why i'm puzzled by the 'sudden' need to appeal to the blacks! Is this not, in it's own right, an admission of defeat...undeniable loss of controlling power? Was the plan initially NOT to get things straightened out, for THEM (forget the different parties: NNP, DA etc) to reclaim their throne? "nigga" please!

Step up on the frontline

2006-11-07T12:11:00.000+02:00

Give me a break! All these white ass people sit on their white asses and expect something coloured to change things around; we raise their white ass bambinos, cut white-green grsss and let's all be happy because Mandela called for it? BS it is!

Wiseman Magasela has published an interesting piece of work on www.kush.co.za entitled 'The invisible professionals'. This referring abviously to our beloved BEE's or AA and EE candidates...oh that's definately me!, us all.

The aim, and unfortunate result?

"If you are black, you are never good enough. Powerful but subtle and insidious currents incessantly work at undermining you, pinning you down, 'where you belong'. Everyday becomes a struggle as those around you, the privileged, aim to limit your space, deny you opportunities and render you incapable and sterile", is what he firmly states.

The biggest apartheid bitch, the well-hated, but 'care-free' imp has finally entered his kingdom of burning faya, and 20 years or so on, following his infamous Rubicon speach to his cabinet, this thing has enjoyed the privilage of living to 90 years of age! Why didn't anyone take him out? He has previously (most likely to his death), unremittingly undermined the black people of South Africa (and the African diaspora), preached their worthlessness, dim-wittedness, and plain ignorance, and this devil has been living?!

Long live Azania!