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Politics of Poverty The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Ise ogwang’, ise gweno!
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Page 2 Politics of Poverty - The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Ojijo
“He who lowers himself to fight with an individual, a personality, becomes an individual; and individuals are little people, they do not change things; they cannot save the world. The world needs ideas, the world needs movements. This book is about an idea, an idea called Raila; not a mortal earthling so named. This book is about either changing that idea; or changing that idea.”
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Book Title:
Politics of Poverty-
The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Copyright © 2010, Ojijo. All rights reserved. This work is copyrighted by the author. No parts of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, without permission of the publisher.
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My Body- Common Medical Conditions by Organ, Symptoms, Causes, Prevention and Cure (Alternative & Medical) The Luo Nation: History, Culture & Conversational Phrases of the Luo Peoples of Africa Legal Rhetoric - Principles, Presumptions, Doctrines, Maxims, Rules & Tests of Law Tuongee Kiswahili Conversational Phrasebook (with Audio CDs & DVDs) Politics of Poverty: The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Fireplace Stories: Ojijo’s Quotes & Performance Poems Policy & Legal Issues in e-Commerce & e-Governance Open Religion: My Religion is the Best Religion The Mungiki: Three Sides of the Same Coin Seventy-7 Moves of a Sexy Woman 99 Ways to Make People Laugh
Page 3 Politics of Poverty - The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Ojijo
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Preface Brutus realized, albeit belatedly, that killing Caesar was not in anyone‘s best interest, least of all, Rome‘s. There will always be families, well organised families that consolidate economic power, then load it over men, and give unto themselves titles, such as ‗chiefs, paramount chief, representatives of the tribe‘; and these families, always, relegate themselves as ‗blue-blooded‘, chosen of the gods, favored amongst men, kings over men, lords of the commons, prefects over natural resources, amongst other flowery and not less perfumed titles, which entrench their rule over the ‗commons‘ and perpetuate their (immoral) empires, at the behest of their ‗fellow men‘. Once in a while, a people is awakened from this selective and self-induced amnesia to question the source of their plunder, and if they, by luck escape the wrath of the ‗sleeping‘ bull-dog, they may, for a season, share their opinion on why they quench their thirst by the sweat of their brow, and drops of own blood, while their ‗god-appointed‘ tribal rulers insanely amass riches to obnoxious bounds. This is a book-product of such introspection, a question seeking answers; a riddle seeking solution; and an African story seeking completion.
Thu‘ Tinda!
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As we read, may we grow (in knowledge and understanding), as tall as the blue gum tree at our uncle‘s home!
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
… table of Politics!
Rech tow giwie! .............................................. 6 Everything Rises, and Falls, on the Leader! ...................................... 7
KOTH BIRO! .................................................................................... 7
(Under) Development in Luoland ..................................................... 9
TO BENDE KIKISUNGRI! BY OJIJO .............................................. 9
Luo Political Leadership .................................................................. 22
MGALA MUUWE, LAKINI HAKI YAKE MPE!............................. 22
Bim en bim! ................................................ 30 Neoism-Odinga Family’s Political Philosophy of Leadership) ........ 31
RAILA A SOCIAL DEMOCRAT? ASK ME ANOTHER!.................. 32
Neo-Machiavelli/Captainship without Inspiration ......................... 36
ANNUS HORRIBILIS! .................................................................. 36
Neo-Colonialist/Neo-Capitalists: The Leech Captains .................... 52
„AND THEN YOU STEAL FROM US, MAIZE! .............................. 52
Neo-Homeguards/Captainship Watered by Fountain of Luo Blood 61
SOME RISE BY SIN, AND SOME BY VIRTUE FALL ....................... 61
Iseyo ogwang’, to Iseyo gweno ........................... 67 SIGAND ODHIAMBO KAMGUNDO! ........................................... 68
Alibaba & the 40 Thieves................................................................. 71
A TALE OF 100 INTELLIGENT KNOWLEDGEABLE BUT STUPID POLITICIANS71
Informed Political Participation .................................................... 128
SO! DO YOU HAVE A PARTY? ................................................. 128
Left Is Right ................................................................................... 133
IF I ANSWER YES, THEN I AM A SOCIALIST! ........................... 133
The Myth of the Student Radical .................................................. 143
RAWERA MAYOMYOM KWODO WI MIN!.............................. 143
The Ghost of Prof. H.W.O Okoth-Ogendo .................................... 148
CONSTITUTIONS WITHOUT CONSTITUTIONALISM! ................ 148
Appendices ................................................ 152 The Luo Nation (Origin & History of 15 Language Groups) ....... 152 The Luo Philosophy of Od Wadu .................................................. 155 222 Books-2-Read (PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT) .................. 159
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Every Generation Has A Dictator; And A Savior .......................... 68
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Rech tow giwie!
A fish rots from the head!
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
EVERYTHING RISES, AND FALLS, ON THE LEADER! KOTH BIRO! It was John C. Maxwell, the best selling international writer and speaker on leadership, who noted that, ‗Everything rises and falls on leadership.‘ And Tom Mboya was right when he noted is his acclaimed book, African Nationalism, that, ‘whereas everyone can participate in development, not everyone can lead‘. Only a few people can lead at any given time. They get the opportunity, so that the rest can be inspired to develop themselves. The leader hence has the role of setting the pace. And where the group is sickly, lethargic, violent, poor and retrogressive, the leader is the cause, and must be the answer. In such cases, the group has two options, ‗either change the leadership, or change the leadership‘
As Albert Einstein, in his defence for socialism, noted that, ‗Human end ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical ideals and -- if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous -- are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half-unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.‘ The leader is critical. Indeed, after traversing the Great African continent, J.C. Maxwell noted that, ‗the (African) people suffer in absolute poverty, ignorance and disease because their ‗leaders‘ do not care about them.‘ There is nothing that unites people more than a common enemy. Today, the greatest enemy of the Luos is Raila, just as the greatest enemies of Africans are African leaders. They are in essence black capitalists. With their white brothers in war ships docked 12 miles ashore, waiting to come in incase their black brothers can not take over power. Just like in Libya and now Syria. It is true that the leader and the led face the same situations. Indeed, the poor and the rich, and sick and the healthy, all face the same situation, in the environment, it is what they do with what is presented to them that makes the difference. Jim Rohn, the great motivational speaker once noted that, ‗There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; it‘s what we do with them that's important.‘
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Leaders have the capability to unite or divide our people – be they Africans, Asians or Whites, Christian, Hindu or Muslim. Leaders must show us the way in word and deed. A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
It is going to be our personal responsibility to change direction. I cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but I can change myself. That is something I have charge of. I cannot change my destination overnight, but I can change my direction overnight. We, the Luos, can change our destination overnight. Shakespeare teaches me that, ‗Everyone ought to bear patiently the results of his own conduct. ‗ Indeed, in his classical masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, a 1958 English language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe which is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world, he reminds us that, ‗when the centre cannot hold, things fall apart.‘.
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In Africa, poor leadership and economic management has led to the continent becoming the most desperately poor and underdeveloped region on earth. He leaves it to others, however, to attempt to explain why it is that almost all African countries should have taken such similar and devastatingly violent historical trajectories and why the necessary leadership to break the cycle has not been forthcoming.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
(UNDER) DEVELOPMENT IN LUOLAND
TO BENDE KIKISUNGRI! BY OJIJO* To Bende Kikisungri, Nikech in Mana Kute We Rumble and Roar with Laughter so Loud, Swaggering and Swinging, Staging a Lot of Scenes, Subconscious of the Source, of the Plunder of Love Pitiful, Tis Pretty Pitiful, This Painful Pride To Bende Kikisungri, Mit Kitho Kidhier, Living Lavish Lives, In Cities Skies Away, Humble Homes, Inhuman, Unfrequented, Insignificant Condemning Our Lives, Our Livelihood, Our Land, Our Liberty Strange, Tis Stinking Strange, This Life Away From Home
Great and Arrogant, They Say Bright and Proud, They Pout Tall Dark and Handsome, or Is It Hungry, Master Strategist, With Mere Salaries, Used and Useless, Dumped With Impunity, We Are Smiles of Spite in Days of Death We Embrace, Shameful, Tis Stinking Shameful The Life in Cities Always From Home To Bende Kikisungri, Mit Kitho Kidhier Nyamgodho Gi Dhoge, Sunga Okelo Nam Omuonye *
Extracted from Fireplace Stories: Ojijo’s Performance Poems & Quotes. 2nd Ed. 2011. Pp. 103-4
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To Bende Kikisungri, Kagipaki Kendo GiLuori
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Simbi Nyaima Gi Simbni Gi, Sunga Okelo Koth, Oime South Nyanza Gi Rieko Ne, Central Nyanza Gi Teko Ne, Luo Orwako Tho, Destruction Borne of Pride.
Lack of Economic Wit! Luo political leaders regionally have never known how to transform the nation‘s potential into wealth, economic wealth. They use the philosophical underpinning of the Luos, the great sense of social justice, to further political liberation ONLY. But politics without food, as the Chinese say is meaningless. Confucius remind any caring Luo, that,
The pre-USSR, states recognised this and it lead to the triad classification of rights by Vasak Kerel, into social-economic, civil, political and self determination rights. The east ahs always held that you first provide social economic well being, and then you talk democratic governance. The argument holds several ounces of water. We cannot expect poor Africans to vote rightly, on empty stomachs. Feed me now, and then teach me later. Period. The Luo leaders have always found this a very elusive concept. No wonder cooperatives are hardly present in Luo land. It is true the Luos have been known to fight fellow Luos, and indeed, some Luos have been complacent in the demise of their fellow powerful Luo leaders, as we saw with Mboya and Odinga, Argwings Kodhek, Raila and Ochuodho, Lumumba, etc, all through the coming in of enemies to use Luos against Luos. And this is not new to Kenyan Luos. It was also evident in Ugandan politics, with Amin, Obote, Lule and Tito Okello. However, all Luo leaders from the Ugandan leaders, to Nyerere, to Garang, etc, have never known leadership beyond POLITICS. We are revolutionaries, we are value based, and we do not condone corruption as Luos (and Raila is half Luo, by the way, and half Luhya), but we do not provide ECONOMIC LIBERATION. If i may remind us of an old Chinese proverb, 'do not teach a man ethics when he has an empty stomach, and no cloth on his back.'
Page 10 Politics of Poverty - The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Ojijo
‗first give a man food to eat, and clothes for his back, before you teach him ethics.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
When Raila wins the election, and HE WILL WIN THE ELECTION, he is going to be in very bright sunlight, he will be judged purely by what he does to the Luos, in which case, he is not going to do anything substantial, so that he can get another term in office, look at Obama and African issues. Raila needs to change, or we need to change him. The greatest asset that a people have is not political leadership, rather, it is Economic wherewithal. The Jews you mention have consistently been at the head of major financial booms, from Renaissance Europe, actually, from the age of crusades. The philosophy which i pass in the book is that Raila is an Idea...not an earthling, and that we need to change the idea, and we can do this, while at the same time, having a sense of pride, as the one that Obama gave us. The Indians and other communities have taken over the fish industry. We neither own processing, primary processing, marketing, or production plants for fish. No, we do not. And where did the fish rot from, THE HEAD.
It hence seems that Luo political leaders need a lesson on financial literacy, local resource mobilization, entrepreneurship development and economic leadership development. It is either this, or we are doomed. Because, as Ojijo writes in his classic retirement book, Old, Broke & Bored: Plan to Retire Happy! , ‗he that is finally free, is free in deed.‘ It does not matter if we command eloquence of speech and brevity of souls, if we sleep hungry, in leaking roofs, and peeping walls. It will not benefit our people if they yawn from dawn till dusk, and we debate democracy, human rights and governance, and laws to protect the same. We should be reminded of Rothschild, the Jewish bank empire owner, who said that, ‗give me the control of a country‘s money, and I do not care who makes the laws.‘ All who make laws are controlled by those who have money. Politicians are controlled by capitalists. It has always been like that, it will always be like that, the only one who will change is ‗the capitalist.‘ Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, and their friends Castro, Chairman Mao, Ghadhafi, Patrice Lumumba,
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And a lot maybe said in praise of liberal economies, but all great ‗headmasters of economics primary school‘, from Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus and, later, Ludwig von Mises, and Marshal, will all agree that the leadership will determine the efficiency of the economy, of the market, and of the redistributive mechanism of the market. THE LEADER!!!
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Samora Machel, Hugo Chavez, noted this, and advocated for ‗capitalist workers class.‘ Poverty in Nyanza If Charles Dickens were to awaken in Luo Nyanza, he would find there more than enough Oliver Twists to draw his character. The future of the young Luo is today worse than the future of the young Negro in the sixties. The capitalistic conditions are worse, and the diseases are more rampant. Further, the lack of courage to confront the present is loud, and unlike then when the enemy was white, he is now black and talks like us, and walks like us. You might think it is a duck, but wait a minute; it more equal, and eats eggs, because, for many reasons, it is ‗thinking; and ‗fighting‘ the other two legged, ‗rabuon‘ eating ‗enemy‘. This is more than Orwell would have asked for in 1984, or maybe not! Unlike Oliver though, when our mothers are insulted, we do not fight back, but we remain passive. DANGEROUS. And we have now gone against the grain of Bob Marley, and our kindness has been taken for weakness, no wonder Raila was heard stating that, ‗JoLuo luwa ka lwang‘ni, kata onge gima amiyogi.‘ And there were Luos in the room, and they had their tails in between their balls, why, Despite all this accolades as a politician, Raila, joining a long list of Luo leaders, both in Kenya, and abroad, fails miserable as a leader. This is manifested by the increasing socio-economic misery of the Luo community. No wonder, the word Luo Nyanza evokes negative feelings of poverty, disease and ignorance. This is not to say that Raila is wholly responsible for the woes facing the Luo community, members of this community are equally culpable, indeed, even neighbours just looking on are culpable, But the fish rots from the head. It is instructive to note that the sugar, fish and academia (service through education) sector remain the mainstay of Luo economy. However, no single day - not one I know of - has Raila ever employed his mobilization skill and rhetoric to fight for the farmers and the fisherfolk. In Toffler‘s terminology, Luo land is still ‗First Wave‘, predominantly peasant agriculture, almost Neolithic, when the rest of Kenya is Third Wave. Indeed, we are the Ikemefuna, dying under the killing raining blows of Raila‘s lack of leadership and inaction, as a leader, de facto or de jure, it matters not. He must know the consequences that will visit him, just as the morning follows a dark night, he will be the hero of a Luo (modern day) Greek Tragedy.
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‗they cannot buy their pipers, stupid.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
For along time, before Kibaki came to power, sugar framer went for years without being paid for their produce. Meanwhile, tones of sugar were being imported into the country compounding further the woes further. All this time, Agwambo never raised a finger (or was he part of the cartel that was importing sugar?). In the fish sector, it is ironical that people in Nyanza are contended with fish skeletons popularly known as mgongowazi due to high levels of poverty while hoping against hope that all will be well when Raila becomes president. Never! It will be worse.
The human development index in Nyanza is appalling; the life expectancy is chronically low at 45 years. The education infrastructure is wanting, and the healthcare is in dire need of resuscitation. In the words of Aldous Huxley in brave New World, Luos are constantly, ‗mending, not ending‘ the production system. Clothes are mended, patched, and re-patched. The level of innovation, and business is down, and cooperative efforts for economic well being are frowned upon, if not out rightly rejected, since they have not been, ‗blessed‘ by Jakom. The Luos were holiday makers, and not living in mean sobriety and somberness. The Luos were not, like Charles Dickens notes in Christmas Carol, Scrooges. We are not scrooges. The Luo lived, and must live in images of light, joy, warmth and life, and forget the unforgettable images of darkness, despair, coldness, sadness and death that today haunt us, in the day. We cannot afford to be, ‗a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinners!‘ who have no place in his life for kindness, compassion, charity or benevolence. We must stop hating celebrations, and start embracing our relatives again, in the spirit of Od Wadu. We must avoid overworked, underpaid and abused. This book, should be to us, as Marley's ghost was to Scrooge. However, Raila does not see the need to work with us to grow out of poverty; indeed, he is too much engrossed in historical revisionism and propaganda akin to William Smith of the ministry to Truth in Orwellian Novella, 1984.
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Some will argue that Raila is the MP for Kibera and is not responsible for the woes affecting the people of Nyanza. Nothing could be further from the truth. Raila is covertly and overtly at the centre of all the major political events taking place in the region including who becomes MP, if in doubt, just ask Raphael Tuju, the MP for Rarieda. However, this is not to say that Tuju should provide the much needed alternative centre of power, given that he cannot be come an MP if left to his own devices.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Indeed, today, the Luo, having a ‗cat-like‘ love of personal cleanliness, based on the Od Wadu philosophy that the whole is complete, and hence, part of the whole must also be wholesome, and complete, now find themselves in a rat race, forever struggling to even wash their faces, literally. Like Voltaire‘s Candide, the Luos are experiencing a slow, painful disillusionment as we witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. As Luos, we should ask ourselves; where complacency exists in our life and circumstances are costing us and about the potential for more health, happiness, peace, and prosperity. Chairman Mao rightly teaches us in his venerable Little Red Book that, ‗It is necessary to investigate both the facts and the history of a problem in order to study and understand it.‘ In The Law of Success, Napoleon Hill writes that, "No man has a chance to enjoy permanent success until he begins to look in the mirror for the real cause of all his mistakes."
‗Today, I will list all my problems, and then I will add my name at the bottom of the list; then I will start solving all my problems from the bottom.‘ One who is inquisitive is not shocked that Raila was the first to offer himself to go and resolve the Ivory Coast crisis, and that he also was very quick to condemn Ghadhafi, and lend support to the rebels. This is despite that given his wide knowledge, he knew that the Europeans were in both Libya and Ivory Coast for the resources, and not for liberation of the masses. Indeed, a few days after the toppling of Gbagbo, the French prime minister was in Ivory Coast, with over 300 businesses men from France, to ‗invest‘ in Ivory Coast, and ‗help in restructuring the economy‘. Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for Africans, WE DO NOT READ; and when do, WE DO NOT ANALYSE CRITICALLY; and even when we can, WE ARE TOO POOR TO ENGAGEIN INTELLECTUAL ARGUMENTS. Our political parties do not teach ideology lessons to young leaders, and hence, we find it hard to connect the dots between international happenings, and the price of sugar. Was it not the British Prime minister who went with arms manufacturers to Egypt, after the fall of Mubarak, to sell. Was it not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said that Libya was ready for investments, given the oil. Was it not the British foreign minister who said that
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For so long, in Raila, and Odinga‘s ‗service‘ we have encounters trials and evils of every sort--war, hatred, betrayal, starvation, natural catastrophes of all kinds, in short, any and every evil to which man has ever fallen prey. We must come full circle and ‗cultivate our own garden‘ and make the best of our possible world. As Ojijo writes in his best-selling and very influential, The Gift, we should, as a Luo,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
‗European, and especially France, American and British oil businessmen should share the wealth of Libya, that there was immense business opportunities. And yet ALL AFRICAN PRESIDNETS WERE QUIEST. DOINGNOTHING THATN WRITING IN THER NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS. SPINELESS RULERS. BLACK CAPITALISTS. And so, like Libya and the other countries, Luo land will forever be in low HDI, poverty, lack of infrastructure, want, need and desire without satisfaction. The Luos must now read from Elbert Hubbard and, ―take a message to Garcia". We should take initiative. We must develop production, and raise productivity, in Luo Nyanza, and amongst the Luos. We must now take initiative, and it starts with either changing leadership, or changing leadership. We should recall the Kikuyu proverb thus: ‗if you treat yourself like a dog, you will be treated like a dog.‘
‗‗‗You could not cut butterflies with a panga …you could not spear them until you learnt their ways of movement, trap and fight back…‖ We need to learn the enemy. Our enemy. Raila. Indeed, Lao Tzu, the great master strategist, and author of the great work on Art of War, told us that, ‗the general who understands himself and the enemy, will go to 100 battles, and will win 100 battles.‘ Derelict Academics Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the U.S. rightly advised that education alone is irrelevant in a people‘s development. He said, ‗Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence alone is omnipotent.‘ The poverty levels in Luo Nyanza are despicable, outrageous and disgraceful. And to note that we are so learned, with great professors like Prof. Okot, Prof. Muga, Prof. Magoa, etc. our level of mobilization for political support of Raila is an insult to our ability to disfranchise when we need to mobilize for economic development. Again, the leader is to blame, but again, the chickens have wondered too far to the bush this
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Indeed, we must now learn the ways of Raila ideo-miscreants, and arm ourselves with knowledge. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, that great African son, reminds us in The River Between, that,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
time. Indeed, even the Luos who lead multinational and regional conglomerates have not seen the sense in investing in their homeland, with their people. Oduor of KCB, executive director, and his group of friends, Marie Stops, etc. It is important to recall the words of the great legend, Tom Mboya, that, ‗educated professionals must avoid the elitist approach and give back to the community where they came from.‘ What is the essence of being educated, when I cannot go back to my people, and give back. Indeed, if the Spanish Civil War remind anything, it is "how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries." One would then be slow to condemn the intellectuals. Tom Mboya was right, emphasis on education should be on service, not leadership, since not all can lead, but all can serve. Our tribe is a tribe of ignorance, superstition and illiteracy. In his classical masterpiece, intellectual capital, Stewart writes that, ‗Knowledge is the currency of the information age.‘
The educated must understand that to be educated is not synonymous with being intellectual. The knowledge of the Luo professors, doctors and academic seem to have it seemed to have fallen, a la Hume, still born from the university, never reaching home to solve problems. One wonders what the purpose of education really is. . And all learned professors appreciate that in order to become experts, we need education and dedication and hard work, but most of al, we need opportunity. There is opportunity in Nyanza, a lot of opportunity, opportunity in the form of problems. What we need to do is to form solutions, solutions which we will then package as products and sell to the market place, and we have the market also. The market needs solutions, and we have the knowledge, just lacking the intellectualism. That thing that separates stupid people, from intelligent people. ‗doing what they know they should.‘ Ojijow rites in his classic, The Gift of e11even Moves to Make Me Wealthy, that, “Knowing what to do is being informed; Knowing how to do is experience;
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Indeed, "Knowing" is the bread and butter in this ever- changing-turbulenttechnology-driven economy. However, the Luo professors have not organised their knowledge into exploitable capital resource for the region. We seem to be the victims, and not the victors, in this change process.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Knowing what to do, and how to do it, is being knowledgeable, Knowing what to do, and how to do it, and DOING IT, is intelligence… the opposite is stupidity” African presidents are both informed and experienced. They are knowledgeable. However, most African presidents are stupid!
Numbers without Influence The Luos, even with their great numbers, do not a University, a centre for research based education and learning; we do not have an economic modeled hospital and health facility; we do not have cooperatives to exploit the fish industry in Kenya, or the Shea nuts in Northern Uganda, or the fish and groundnuts in northern Tanzania, or the oil, sand and other resources in South Sudan. Our leaders amass wealth, at the expense of the Luos, the Led. In the world acclaimed most leading philosophical work, Aristotle notes in the Nicomachean ethics that,
However, this ‗happiness‘ and ‗well being‘ has been as elusive to the Luos lives, as ‗Soap on wet hands‘ Our leaders love identifying with us for political gain, but not for social or economic development. Even Obama, the most powerful Luo (and man) on earth, today, finds it easier to go to Scotland for 4th Generation Ancestors and not Kenya for 1st Generation Parents. The Luos must today shy off their intellectual and powerful brothers and cousins. We must look elsewhere. We must look deep within ourselves. Galileo Galileo noted that, ‗I do not teach men, but show them what is inside them‘. As Luos, we need to live by the ideology proposed by Ojijo in his book, The Gift, when he writes that, ‗I must be an expert in many things, and good in everything.‘
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‗the highest good for humans, the highest aim of all human practical thinking, is eudaimonia, a Greek word often translated as well-being or happiness.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
We will not stop at complaining. I believe in the words of Hubbert, in Acres of Diamonds, the lecture given over 6,000 times a preaching, that, ‗One need not look elsewhere for opportunity, achievement, or fortune—the resources to achieve all good things are present in one's own community.‘ As Luos, we ought to get rich; it is indeed our duty to get rich. We can sympathize with the poor, but the number of poor who are to be sympathized with is very small. To sympathize with a man whom God has punished for his sins ... is to do wrong.... let us remember there is not a poor person in the world that was not made poor by his own shortcomings. Poverty is a cruse. All God‘s best friends are rich. Luos have been cursed, and we need to undo the curse. We need to go so that we can be, ‗made‘.
We lack transport conglomerates, which can move our people to and from Nyanza and Nairobi; we lack infrastructure projects, and we lack basic power. Indeed, the highest number of grass thatched houses is in Nyanza as we speak today. One wonders how we cannot be the best in examinations! It is now upon the common folk of Luos to do their part. We can find words of encouragement inside the pages of the great book by Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery, when he writes that, ‗Nothing ever comes to me, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.‘ ‗During this next half-century and more, the Luos must continue passing through severe Kenyan crucible. We are to be tested in our patience, our forbearance, our perseverance, our power to endure wrong, to withstand temptations, to economize, to acquire and use skill; in our ability to compete, to succeed in commerce, to disregard the superficial for the real, the appearance for the substance, to be great and yet smile, learned and yet simple, high and yet the servant of all.‘ This is to paraphrase the Great Booker T. As Luos, we must take our place. In the words of Achilles to his lieutenants, ‗we are lions‘ We must take advise from Maslow now and self-actualize, today, ‗What a man can be, he must be.‘
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Lack of Economic Conglomerates
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
We can be so much more, Raila or no Raila. And we must identify our own destiny now. We must unite. We must strengthen our solidarity networks, anything less, and we will be enyoked for another half century, and this time, we will have only our selves to blame, and our children to answer to. We must become everything that we is capable of becoming. The Luos must now rethink our own standing in light of our suffering. Achebe was right, ‗a child belongs to his father; just as man belongs to his fatherland when things are good. But when the father beats his child, and there is sorrow and bitterness in fatherland, then the child must seek sympathy in its mother's hut; and the man finds refuge in his motherland. ‗ our motherland, our Luo land, will be our last refuge. No wonder the Luos said, ‗kimiyo mon, timiyo ji duto.‘
For over 40 years, Luos have blindly followed the Odinga clan, and what do they have to show for it? Ever since independence Luos have served the Odingas like slaves. Nothing but abject poverty at the grass roots. In the meantime, he has been raking money in, indeed, Raila is now a ‗Billionaire‘, and in an undisclosed event, his brother, Dr. Oburu was heard boasting that, ‗the Odinga family will never be poor again.‘ There is no question that Raila is the richest Luo in the world. Yet his supporters in Luo land and Kibera are some of the poorest people in Kenya. In a very curious twist that only Luos can enlighten us on, while the likes of Kenyatta and Moi were handing out goodies, plots and money to the needy, poor Luos see nothing wrong in handing over their meager earnings to Raila, all in the hope that once he is president, he will magically transform Luoland into the Eden. Odingas have not brought an iota of development in Luoland. Just compare Luoland to their neighboring Kisiiland. While Kisiis have never even had a president, their hard work and development conscious leadership is well-displayed by their stone houses with mabati roofs. Now, visit Luoland and all you see are the same grassroofed old round huts that Speke and Grant found in the late 1800's! Yet Raila feels no shame when he drives around there in his Sh. 15 Million Hummer Military vehicle. But again, who said that Machiavelli‘s The Prince should be rewritten.
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Rich Leader Ruler, Poor Followers
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
And Like Malcolm X said, much of what I say might sound bitter, but it's the truth. Much of what I say might sound like it's stirring up trouble, but it's the truth. Much of what I say might sound like it is hate, but it's the truth. Residents of Rarieda, are the envy of the entire Luo land. From the time they voted Honorable Raphael Tuju in, they have seen the kind of development that they only dream about come to their door step. For too long now, Luos have been cheated that the only Moses who will deliver them to Canaan is an Odinga. The success of Tuju's effort have torn that Jaramogi mystic into shreds. It is now clear that other Luos can lead. However, instead of working with them, Raila wants to finish them. Tuju has been hands-on in the setting up of the Rarieda water project. Courtesy of the Internet, Raila can no longer hoodwink the rest of us abroad. How can we dismiss the picture we saw of Tuju in a construction worker's overalls supervising the construction of the water pipes? As Eckhart Tolle astutely points out in his masterful, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, "Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing ever happened in the future, it will happen in the Now." The Luo must act now. We need to make use of our number. Most Africa families are big; indeed, most Luo families are very big. We should fall under the curse pronounced in Ojijo‘s Sell Something, when he writes that African families are, Noting on their inability to come together and form family based enterprises as the Indians have very carefully done. As the Jews are known to do, and as the Italians built their show making artistry. Working together; sharing the knowledge. Our families are our greatest resources. Dr. Margaret A Ogola, the author of the classic, The River and the Source, rightly said that, ―This strength and support that is found in the African family is the most important part of our culture, and should be preserved and nurtured at all costs." Luo women are indeed, ` women of iron'. Luo men throw stones supporting Raila Idea. The Odinga's have never brought development to Nyanza or anywhere in about 60 years of politicking. All Luos have to show for years of serving the Odinga's is tragedy and poverty from Nyanza to Kibera. And it seems that the Luos have become a force of "Immunes", immune to ‗tropical diseases‘ found in poor leadership offered by Raila and his cronies, lieutenants. A woeful scenario. We must take initiative. We must not say anything; we must not make any funny faces; we must not look to others for help – we need to do it.
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‗Numbers without influence.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
We need to change Raila, or change Raila. The Odingas have misused and abused Luos. They have kept Luo land poor and underdeveloped. The family has used Luos as canon fodder in their battles to acquire power. How do you ‗tell‘ people to stone a President and expect roses or enhanced development? Luos must now help themselves, as Samuel Simmons says in his classical book, Self Help, the Luo must now ‗"apply themselves diligently to right pursuits--sparing neither labour, pains, nor self-denial in prosecuting them--and to rely upon their own efforts in life." This has a resulted in the Luos losing their Nyadhi, indeed, the Luos would not beg, borrow, or trade in debt and negotiations. Indulgence is endorsed, and Luos are encouraged to make the most of their lives. It is part of our ‗nyadhi‘, style, best immortalized in Sherlock Holmes‘ writings thus, ‗My professional charges are upon a fixed scale. I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether‘. That I a true original JVC Luo.
Let no one associate our poverty and misery with Luo inability to win the presidency. If that be the case, are the Luhya, the Meru, Kisii, Maasai, or Swahili, faring worse, just because they have not held the presidency? Self help is an important means of promoting development, cooperatives. The purpose of development is not to develop an area, but to make the people better off, through investing in education, health and awareness. The government may develop the area, but it is the leaders of the people to develop their people. Luo leaders, led by Raila, have not done this, and do not seem to have any intention of doing this, AT ALL. The waswahili say that, ‗dalili ya mvua ni mawingu.‘ Meaning, ‗The signs of rainfall is the (dark) clouds‘ The sky is very bright in Luo Nyanza. Indeed, anyone who talks of the need for rainfall is relegated to the records of unpersons, "vaporized" politically, and sometimes, physically, contained by the ‗Raila state; in Luo nyanza; effectively erased from existence in political memory, and most cases, social and economic memory in Luo land/. After all, WHO IS THE BIG BROTHER?!.
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Associating poverty with lack of presidency
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
LUO POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
MGALA MUUWE, LAKINI HAKI YAKE MPE!
The Luos are Liberators, POLITICAL liberators, and so is Odinga Family
Raila is indeed the latter-day face of democratic struggle that has come a long way through KANU detention dungeons to the hallowed heights of power. Raila, just as many other Luos before, and soon to come after him, are guided by the strong Luo philosophy of Od Wadu, which has a very ingrained sense of social justice, and hence, a liberator‘s tendency in ‗freeing‘ others from political harassment. Indeed, just like Garang‘ of South Sudan, Nyerere of Tanzania, Obote, Amin and General Tito Okello of Uganda, the Luos have become synonymous with fighting for democracy and liberation. This is the same trait in Odinga during independence movement, Mboya, ‗Orengo and the seven bearded sisters‘, and Ouma Muga, and Moi Era. The Luos, or generally, their leaders, have always risen to challenge oppressive governments. The same is true for student leadership, where Luos also take half of all university leadership posts, and the population of Luos against other communities in leadership of SONU is almost fifty-fifty, compared to the others combined. However, they often times been challenged to cut a new figure for himself as a leader within the docket of the politics of development and State leadership. Indeed, they have always been used against each other, by the more suave and schemehardened political Gerry-meanderers.
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The Luos all over the entire nation, from south Sudan, running through northern Uganda, eastern Kenya, and North West Tanzania, have ha multiple suppressions. According to the old political order, first by Kenyatta, then by Moi, and then By Kibaki, before the second stolen presidency, the leaders seemed to have read off Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, in which Marquis tells his cousin and her apparent, "Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, will keep the dogs obedient to the whip." One would imagine it is Raila talking to his lieutenants, Kajwang‘, Orengo, and Nyong‘o, about the status of Luos, and how to keep them ‗contained‘.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Dr. Raila‘s primary claim on the presidency is a moral one. It hinges on his argument, that he's a reformer and democrat. He suffered unspeakable abuses under Kanu. But time and time again he's been a catalyst for change. He has fought and suffered -- more than any other politician alive today -- for the rights that Kenyans enjoy. This is entirely true. He has suffered, but in whose interest, at whose cost, is another matter. As was told of old, ‗a mans intentions, who can guess those ones.‘
Amoral De facto Leadership
Unfortunately, the Luo political leadership has been built around hatred of the other. Unlike the leadership offered by Tom Mboya, who was a cosmopolitan, raised up in Thika, and who put in place the system that taught great leader like Obama‘s father, and wangari mathai, Odinga, and his son, Raila, have played on politics of hating the other. Raila's hatred of Kikuyus is a ploy. All he is doing is working up the politics of the 1960's on the mindless Luo masses, yet Kenyans have been busy building barriers across tribes. If he hated Kikuyus that much, how could he let his son marry a Kikuyu just the other day? The suffering of the Luos under various tribes, and communities, in Kenya under the Moi and Kenyatta regimes, and in Sudan, and Uganda, is inimical to the ‗the Jewish peril‘, only that in our casers, it seems our Hitlers are home-grown. Maybe, one day, when the rain halts, and the rainbow promises no more rain, we, the Luos, will say as did Schama, ―subjects are now Citizens.‘ The Luos must look within, conglomerate, Luos and friends of Luos, and work their way out of the hole. Clannishness or tribalism is much stronger than patriotism. Much of the passion, power, and loyalties are focused upon family, the community, the tribe. We area a nation unto ourselves. We are first Luo, then Kenyans. I am first a Luo, then a Kenyan; and I never stop being a Luo, indeed, I can stop being a Muslim, or Christian, or atheist, but I can never stop being a Luo, even if I wanted. It is part of me, like my shadow. Being a Luo, or indeed, a member of any other tribe or community, commands my highest loyalty as an individual, defines my life chances, and serves as an emotional touchstone. I am a Luo, proudly Luo, but Odinga is not our leader, and he is an amoral leader. We must use our traditional Luo values of solidarity (wat), personalism (dhano),
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The Luo de facto leaders are called Ker, who should serve both a spiritual and socialeconomic leadership role. Ideally, the full leadership role was done by the Ruoth, which was from a family of kings; a true leader of his people.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
and nobility (nyadhi) reflexively as resources to overcome the idea of Raila. We need to cross the Rubicon and take on the Great Pompey. We must change, or change will change us. We must not doubt our ability to free ourselves. We must not doubt that we can do this. The French never doubted, and they revolted. The maumau never doubted, and they gave the Britons a run for their money. The ANC never doubted, and they showed apartheid regime, the Botha regime, what justice means. Fidel Castro never doubted, and today, Batista is history. Mao Tse Tung NEVER DOUBTED, AND TODAY, China is a world power. Stalin and Lenin never doubted, and today, Russians are forever free of Tzars; and the same goes for Iranians, the Shah and the great confidence and belief of Ayatollah Khomeini. We must never doubt our ability to unshackle ourselves off retrogressive, reactionary ideals and cult worship. The garden of our mind is only cultivated by us. What kind of crop we want to consistently yield is solely determined on our positive, enriching, and encouraging thoughts or on our doubting, destructive and negative ones. We alone hold the key to our future, and our success, and our attainments in life. We can either have a feast or a famine - it is only up to us.
"an evil spirit hath innoculated our race with the hideous gospel of submissiveness and degeneracy;- "Resist not evil" it whines and "If a man smite thee on one cheek, turn to him the other also". But I say unto you: - 'If a man smite you on one cheek, smash HIM on the "other". Resist every evil! Be as a lion in the path! Be "dangerous", even in defeat! Courage, I say! Courage! And evermore Courage! Even the stars in their courses are fight for the bold."
Luo Political Leadership Suffering from ’Divide & Rule’ ‗Using One against the Other!‘, or ‗Divide & Rule‘ was a colonial administrative philosophy that has never left its slaves. Ojijo writes in his classical masterpiece, Fireplace Stories - Ojijo‘s Performance Poems & Quotes, that, ‗the smartest fisherman is the one who knows how to fish in troubled waters‘. I this has been most effective against the Luos. A philosophy well utilised by the British, through installation of home guards, and paramount chiefs, from Kotialel, to Nabongo Mumia, to Okang‘ and of course, being used in the context of ‘divide & rule‘
Page 24 Politics of Poverty - The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Ojijo
We must be bold and strong and outspoken, just as the Luo blood within us has always been, and will always be. If I may paraphrase from Ragnar‘s Might Is Right,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Luo political leaders have been used against teach other, by the others! In the case of Jaramogi, he was simply seen as both a threat to Kenyatta‘s henchmen and even to Kenyatta himself but the two men had a bond and friendship Kenyatta himself would reveal in his angry outburst in Kisumu following the riots that explains why Jaramogi was not eliminated altogether. Given Jaramogi could not be eliminated as others would down the road, Plan B was conceived and that entailed not ending but severely curbing Jaramogi‘s influence in Nyanza by way of pitting the affable and equally flamboyant Tom Mboya against Jaramogi. What Tom Mboya did not know or knew but thought he would outsmart the schemers, was that Plan C called for his elimination after curbing Jaramogi‘s influence or otherwise reducing him (Jaramogi) to ordinary mortal status in Nyanza. Indeed, if there is one thing those behind curbing Jaramogi‘s influence and those now bent on stopping Raila from becoming president have in common, it is that both were and are driven by reasons that were antithetical to the unity and progress of our country. To this extent hence, Tuju should take heed of the famous Italian proverb, ‗Allegro ma non troppo.‘ Meaning, Tuju must be his own man. Indeed, the Luo, even in working with the rest, and supporting the rest, must her own person. The Luo will be well served to remember the advise of Kahlil Gibran s in The Prophet, thus, ‗…stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.‘ We need to be together, yet loyal only to our own interests, just as the God of the Bible is, loyal only to his interests, and jealous of any other God. We must be selfish, just like the God of Islam is, not condoning the worship of other gods. We need to love ourselves more, so that with the same measure, we can love others. The Enigma, ‘En Engima! ' In every known political society, there is always going to be a family or individual that dominates the politics of the area upende usipende. In the United States, a country with over 350 million people, two presidents have come from the same family on
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‗Be your own man‘.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
more than one occasion and even as close as father and son. Indeed, in any country and deep in the village or hinterland, there is a local king or queen is politically speaking. To this end hence, Raila, and Odinga family, is here, and will be with us for a long while, and given the Luo aversion to violence on the personal, the family is safe. It is true, Odinga is an enigma. His Book, Odinga, the Enigma, has been conflagrated as ‗en engima‘ Meaning, ‗he is life‘ And whereas the intentions of the book are not unclear to any clear headed open minded student of history of politics, the book is a classical magnum opus, albeit, only directed, but not self-authored. However, the Odinga want to recall the writing by LeVeley in his Bible of Satan, that, ‗Satan has been the best friend of the church, keeping it in business.‘ This train of thought, if logical, then the Luos have been that to Odinga‘s, but Satan, again, is very strict with unreturned love, an advocates. And ‗vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek‘ It may be the fog is lifting, and with the brightening of the day, and the thawing of the ice, will come a new conscience; and the victim is not a secret to all of us. The suffering of the Luos calls for an altering of the Golden Rule from ‗Do unto others as you would have them do unto you‘ to ‗Do unto others as they do unto you‘. Indeed, very soon, Luos will stop praying for deliverance, after all, the old philosophy of PUSH (pray until something happens) is just that, a philosophy. God only blesses ‗working hands). We must reject the idea of prayer; instead Luos must take action to fix a situation instead of asking for a solution. Political action. Not violent actions. Too many have died, for us to lose more in prison, or to graves. Graves which never fill. Like Chinua Achebe‘s Obi Okwonkwo, the Luos are ‗no longer at ease.‘
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‗Kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Being Rich Is Christian, Quranic, and Allowed! Albert Einstein, the German genius, noted that, ‗Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his innate abilities.‘ To this extent, Raila, and Odinga family, has done well for themselves. Indeed, to this extent, the Kennedy family did well for itself; the Kenyatta family has done well for itself, and the Moi family has done well too. And this is not all, there have always been political dynasties, and families and they do well for themselves. The current president of Philippines, holding thousands of land acres that they did not buy. The same plies to Raila and Molasses Plant, and Uhuru Kenyatta and the land held in the country. Where surely did they get all the money? But that should not be the question, indeed, as Justice Prof. Dr. George W. Kanyeihamba notes, on the fight of corruption, ‗fight corruption by circumstantial evidence, not factual evidence.‘ He advises the corruption Czar to ask himself one question,
If the answer is no, then he is corrupt, and must bid farewell t public office, NEVER again to enjoy the privilege of serving his people. They have done well for their families, yes, but have they done well for their people? And charity begins at home, the Luo philosophy is Od WADU, meaning treat a fellow Luo as you, and it is also in consonance with the Kikuyu philosophy, of Wa Nyumba, which also means, take care of your brothers house, and this is in line with the Kiswahili philosophy of utu, humanity, and the bantu philosophy of ubuntu, which has been taken to be the African philosophy, that I am because you are. Is Raila, and indeed, the other like Kalonzo, Uhuru, Mudavadi, or even outside Kenya, Museveni, etc, there because of their people? Or their people are there for them, to be used to get to office… The Colossus Whether we regard the Raila‘s leadership as the most tremendous and most romantic of leaderships, or as the last of the barbarian and retrogressive rulerships it forms a central fact in Kenyan, and Luo history. Raila has been the face behind many monumental changes in Kenya. From the fight against Moi‘s authoritarian rule, opening up of democratic space, the struggle for multi-party democracy, KANU‘s defeat in 2002 and the restoration of the new Constitution in Kenya.
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‗before the public official got into power, he had one house, and after five years, he has 10 houses, 100 vehicles, two hotels, and three schools: can his salary do that?‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
To begin with, Raila enjoys unbridled power as leaders of the Luo community- forget the fact that he is a Nairobi MP. According to the late Hon Michael Kijana Wamalwa, he inspires both Railamania and Railaphobia while the latest biography aptly describes him as an enigma in Kenyan politics. Accordingly, ‗those who hate him, hate him to death, and those who love him, love him to death.‘ Raila has cultivated a cult of personality that is the envy of many a politician. This cult has spawned myths that elevate Raila almost to the level of Luo legends like Gor Mahia and Lwanda Magere. In fact, professors of Political Science bow in awe and sing praises to Agwambo, owad gi Akinyi. Raila straddles the Kenyan political landscape like the proverbial colossus. Whenever, he is out of the country, his absence speaks even louder. He has the knack of setting the political agenda by just calling a press conference; and even if you are dyed-in-the-wool critique of this guy: he is a force that cannot be wished away. Raila is coming in triumph; so enemies shall lose their lives. As Salman Rushdie said of Mahound, ‗His power has become too great. His power has been enhanced manifold. We cannot fight him; we ought not to fight him. We will not fight him; after all, we are reminded that, Raila is our Odyssey, our ―trouble‖. He both gives, and receives trouble. His heroic trait is his metis, or "cunning intelligence": his intelligence is most often manifested by his use of disguise and deceptive speech. He cries when no man is hurting him. Because you cannot hurl Raila, he is an enigma, he is cold and hard. The most evident flaw that Raila sports is his arrogant indifference to his ‗people‘, the Luo. His hubris will also be his fall, as the Bible notes. He shouts his name and boasts that no one can defeat the "Great Jakom". I can now contend that Ithaca will be delayed, and has been delayed for Raila, because of his pride. Indeed, his homecoming will be thwarted for a very long time. But Raila is no the only Luo, or African leader we have seen with his attend qualities. Crammed with decaying kings and kingdoms, the history of Africa, and Luo leadership, is full of strong characters, mighty kings, impoverished adventurers and deceitful leaders. Just like his father who fought for the liberation of Kenya, Raila is a fighter. Indeed, the 2007 election was stolen from him and ODM. Since the family has done its part, it is no use eliminating them. It would be like eliminating Caesar.
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‗do not fight with a man with an ugly face; he has nothing to lose.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
In ‗Julius Caesar‘, the conspirators who would assassinate Caesar express their envy of him, and their frustration, in the following words: ‗Why, Man, He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus And we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonored graves‘
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In their personal insecurities, petty men and underlings think that eliminating a political colossus will solve their problems by elevating their stature on the world stage. It never works that way. Brutus was not to rule Rome. He perished in desolation, in a dishonored grave, hounded by the ghost of the Roman emperor he had murdered.
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Bim en bim!
The Rogue Captains
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
NEOISM-ODINGA FAMILY‟S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF LEADERSHIP)
The Odinga family, just like other political families that took over power and inherited clan and tribal leadership, is a neo-sychrosant family. The family executes a leadership based on the philosophy of neoism, protecting the old order, only now, it is in their direct interest, and only in the indirect interest of the imperialists, capitalists and colonialists.
‗all men are equal at creation and therefore the distinction between kings and subjects is a false one. ‗ I agree with Thiomas Paine in his allegoraical, Rights of Man, when he writes that, "the idea of hereditary legislation is.......as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man." Aristocracy, kingpin families, like Kenyatta family, Mudavadi Family, Moi Family, and monarchy, like kings of Arabia, queens and kings of Europe, starting with England, are all "frauds" and based upon tyranny, and the fact that they exist, and will continue to exist, is the same way murder exists, and will continue to exist, but this makes it no more less abhorrent. In retrospect, Raila, has become to Luos was Queen Scheherazade was to the King of Persia in the classic Islamic Golden Age writing, Kitāb alf laylah wa-laylah. Fearing we may find out is he (Raila) is ‗cheating‘ on the Luos and thus ‗dishonoring us‘, he has woven an endless tail of tales, and we fear we might never live to reach 1,001 years. And to make his presentation better, he walks around with a legion of Abu Nuwasis, in the name of Luhya and Luo MPs. Indeed, one need not wonder who Alibaba‘s fourty thieves are.
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I agree with Paine in his classical piece, Common Sense. In the king and peers, who rule by heredity and contribute nothing to the people, lies the foundation of human troubles. This is why October revolution kicked out the kings, and the same happened led by Ayatollah. This is why Mao rose in China, and Castro in Cuba. This is why The French revolted. This is why Napoleon Bonaparte lost. This is why AANC won, and Machel, won the heart of mozambiqueans. Indeed it is why Patrice Lumumba took over from Belgians, and the Ghanaians mandated Nkrumah with leadership. Troubles of this civilization came with kings, and has been rebirthed by the aristocrats, the neo colonialists, the neo capitalists, the neo-imperialists. Kings caused colonialism; Kings caused slave trade; King caused classification of people into castes, just as it is clear in India to date: Shame; kings caused the crusades; indeed, Kings caused this, and kings caused that. In the era of kings, real men are tried in their souls. Paine was right,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
RAILA A SOCIAL DEMOCRAT? ASK ME ANOTHER!
The first is freedom—not only individual liberties, but also freedom from discrimination and freedom from dependence on either the owners of the means of production or the holders of abusive political power-today the Luos are them most dependant people in Kenya, compared to their potential in terms of intelligentsia. Further, the dependency levels in Luo Nyanza are the highest in the country, especially with the strong socialist African family institutions which make the one employed family member to be the savior of the whole clan and on the second definition of freedom from the holders of abusive political power, who in Kenya has the greatest solidified and massive voting block as Raila. Let me save you the mathematics, no one, no not even a combination of Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta would marshal such support from central Kenya, but the question is, why cannot Raila use his massive support to introduce socialistic or moderate socialist institutions within the province for the gain of the people who literally worship him, why not even copy from Raphael Tuju and the likes of Patrick Lumumba and Rachier, who have designed and implemented community and collectivist programs to assist the widows and the women in their various constituencies? Why cannot Raila use his connections to affect the lives of the societal in Nyanza? Why has not he marshaled the political support he receives and use for the betterment of their daily living situation or even much more easy, why hasn‘t he talked about the current scourge killing the Luos due to low levels of protected sex and backward and retrogressive cultural practices, granted there are good practices also among the Luos-I am a Luo you know. The second principle, equality and social justice—not only before the law but also economic and socio-cultural equality as well, and equal opportunities for all
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Political thinkers have always seen Raila as a socialist-reformist who still harbors the ideals of socialism, causing discontent in the ruling elite subscribing to the capitalist ideals. But this is yet another classic Robert Green move, to confuse the enemies; and gain sympathy, at the behest of the masses; THE LUOS. Btu Raila is neither a socialist, nor a social democrat, which is just a less green shade of socialism. Social democracy is currently the strongest current of socialism in international politics, the guiding philosophy of many strong political parties, such as the British Labour Party (of the Gordon Brown and Tony Blair fame) and the Brazilian Workers' Party. Politically, the social democrats prefer a moderate, mainstream leftist party in a state while economically, with a market economy and a mostly middle class voting base. The social democrats emphasize three main principles;
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Third, social democrats believes in the principle of solidarity—unity and a sense of compassion for the victims of injustice and inequality. (These ideals are described in further detail in the SI's Declaration of Principles). Well, if this is the case, and Raila is a social democrat, where is the evidence that he is compassionate about the plight of the Luo girl in high schools, which primary school did he commission even when he was a minister in both governments-or did his father commission any- even the great Tom Mboya commissioned projects in Nyanza and all over the country when he was in the government -Homa Bay high school, the district hospital, and for the youth of all walks and tribes, the Tom Mboya multi-purpose halls, what is the matter with the Odinga family, unless it s a capitalist institutions, a private affair, singing social democracy to please the masses, to raise above the other political players who have no moral and political ideologies and are driven by none, and to get the block votes from Nyanza-by the way, I will vote him because he has been consistent in his principles, though they have never been socialist or social democratic as he would want us to suffer in believing. No wonder Ochuodho and Tuju have no seat in the Luo Nyanza political diner. As blue chip, top-notch, red-blooded and ‗shrubbing‘ Luo, I would like to know why Raila behaves as he does, surely our Swahili fathers stated that ‗mja hanyeli
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including those with physical, mental, or social disabilities; if Raila claims to be a societal democrat-of course this leaves him to be the only declared politician with a definite socio-economic-political ideology, hence could be advocating for the government to introduce a fairly different system of administration of resources especially in the lake region given the peculiar mode of living and the dangerous effects of the institution of Jaboya at the lake side. It must also not be lost on us that he is currently walking aside the great professor, hon. Nyang' Nyong‘o, a self declared socialist in the mid-seventies- the question that begs to be answered is whether or not the two gentlemen cannot by the use of their intellect and political muscle create and lead a social movement in the whole of Luo Nyanza with the effect of behavioral change and transformational attitudes far away from politics-of-poverty and more towards achieving social justice through developmental practices of socialist gene such as cooperative movements formation and organized community based initiatives which they can support from their great international friends (after all, social democrats believe that community led growth and developmental initiatives are the best means of achieving greater social capital and economic development and hence social justice)-oh, by the way, socialism and social democracy is built on such argument as multilateralism and internationalism-come on Raila, use my international friends for ht benefit of my folk, to say the least.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
hatokapo‘…well, and why do you behave as you do. Is it simply because you are historically and in terms of family connections, associated with social democrats by accident, the German SPD, the US democrats (which receives the support of the country‘s only social democratic party- Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) -the British Social Democratic Federation, the Norwegian Labour Party and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Of course these parties are avowedly evolutionary socialists which are not seeking to introduce, but to reintroduce social-democratic ideals in arrogantly capitalistic countries.
Is it because you are the splinter group of the house of social democrats who believed that the capitalist system could be retained but needed dramatic reform, such as the nationalization of large businesses, the implementation of social programs (public education, universal healthcare, and the like) and the partial redistribution of wealth through the permanent establishment of a welfare state based on progressive taxation. In deed this was my dream and vision. But who shall be progressively taxed in my homeland where ignorance is now highest and the lowest of youths join tertiary and middle level institutions because if you do not make it to the university, you are not bright enough. Or are you Raila, a social democrat of the third way, and is this in formality or in practice? Are you a modern social democrat, in favor of a mixed economy, which is in many ways capitalistic, but explicitly defend governmental provision of certain social services. If this is the case, how will the great Luo populace blend in the governmental economic recovery system of my next government of they are that ignorant and follow you so blindly even when they sleep hungry. I know because I am a Luo, so do not doubt that, and you also know it too. Further, we all know that development is an effort of the government and the citizenry also, so ho do you expect to achieve the Kenyan dream of plenty within our birders when my home is in ruins and you have all the while provided a one-track minded approach to leadership?
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As a social democrat, you should seek to reform Marx's arguments in order to promulgate a less hostile criticism of capitalism. You should be arguing that socialism should be achieved through evolution of society rather than revolution. I would understand that you still believe in capitalism as the only means through which we can achieve sustainable economic development-not the paper-based economic growth- it is also true that you support my country and national government times of darkness like in the second liberation and you have indeed coined the Kenyan dream form our national anthem-but charity, engineer, begins from home, surely you do not want to doubt that.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Jaduong Raila, many social democratic parties emphasis on the traditional goals of social justice, human rights and environmental issues. How many trees have you planted to show the pragmatic orientation of my political beliefs? Why haven‘t my party (ies) commented on the Dandora dump site issues? As democrat you should be more concerned with fair trade rather than free trade, why is it that the sugar industry is suffering from across the board liberalization of the sector with the disastrous effects of imported sugar flooding the market and my western voting block suffering and you do not even commission research as an individual, institution or a party-because you are all in one? And what about the fisher folk, we know that the Luos always eat the bones-mgongowazi-but still, you can argue for fair trade in fish in the western market and betterment of the airports so as to increase the trickling down effect, but why haven‘t you, Raila, why?
Further, as a social democrat, you should be interested in the debates of and support such issues as support for immigration and multiculturalism, which you manifestly do, given the referendum results and the support from the Somalis, but what about A secular and progressive social policy, (although this varies markedly in degree). Most social democrats support gay marriage and abortion rights, how about you Raila? Finally, what is my foreign policy? Finally, Raila, I am a social democrat and I must say that our country needs a social democrat and a pragmatic one at that for her liberation. But you have been a misleader to us Luos. You still are the best of the pack and shall vote you---my reform record, my part in the liberation when Kibaki was sitting on the fence or winning and dining with the government, and Kalonzo, well, I am yet to see a reformer spirit in him. Raila, live and let be. Let Tuju. Lumumba PLO, Shem Ochuodho, advocate Rachier and other like minded and progressive Luos develop the motherland, nay, support them since you and I know that they can deliver. But do practice ideals of socialism in my homeland. Raila is an ideological Demagogue, true red blooded capitalists, and has nothing to do with socialism, workers interests, welfare of the marginalized, or social democracy for that matter. He has been known to preach that he is a social democrat. It is now obvious that we have a radarless, Ideology-Less Captain Wasandore Yawa!
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As a social democrat, you must support both the privatization of certain statecontrolled industries and services and the reduction of certain forms of regulation of the market. Why not advocate the partial privatisation of the Kisumu port? The mayor is ruining the area and we all know that.
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NEO-MACHIAVELLI/CAPTAINSHIP WITHOUT INSPIRATION
ANNUS HORRIBILIS! A true leader ought to be generous with well-deserved praise, prompt with wellearned commendation, and ever alert to recognize and emphasize the best efforts of everyone. He remembers the advice of the great poet Goethe: ‗Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after the shower.‘ Indeed, Thomas Watson rightly noted that, ‗Encouragement is a necessary part of supervision‘. But this is not Raila. Raila, and Odinga family, are Machiavelli, per excellence. In their wake, there have been various casualties, notable Orengo in 1977, Mboya with Odinga, Tuju with Raila, and Ouma Muga and Shem Ochuodho with Raila. Raila kills his opponents, politically. The black Machaivelli, he subscribes to Bush Philosophy of, ‗ And he makes his personal political ambitions a Luo affair, so that anyone who is against him, and effectively against the Luos, and the idle Luo youth in Kisumu, the ‗Baghdad Boys‘ and ‗Taliban‘ elsewhere in Luo Nyanza, will be more than willing to stone, harass, oppress and treat such people with utter suppression, barbarism and ‗lessons to stop disturbing Jakom.‘ Jakom runs a Machiavellian system of politics, and now, governance. To the Luos who depend on him for ‗salvation‘ I would like to invoke the words Ragnar Redbeard in Might is Right or the Survival of the Fittest, when he writes that, ‗Nothing is true; nothing is permanent; all things are open to you; the world is to the Strong; struggle is forever.‘ And Shakespeare was right, ‗Fishes live in the sea, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones. ‗ We must redefine our position. Our Union with Raila has besmirched our reputation as a community. The Raila idea has wrestled us in the mud specifically created so that it smears our reputation with cow dung. He has succeeded. And as MIguna Miguna aptly puts it,
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‗You are either with us, or against us.‘
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‗Some confused, inept, malcontent and clearly ignorant MPs from Nyanza Province joined the fray without knowing or understanding what the issues were.‘
Indeed, in the horrible eons past, Raila has not stood in the face of tribal arrogance and pride against the Luos by other tribes. Just as the neo-colonialist, neocapitalist leaders of China never stood in the face of abuse of ‗yellow‘ Chinese by Briton and Americans, even though the Chinese were perhaps more highly civilized than any other human beings; the similar attitude of the English in India, exacerbated by the Indian complex of castes, that some men are born more equal than others, and hence they never talked on behalf of their fellow Indians; the same is true of the Greeks despising the barbarians, even at times when the barbarians surpassed them in warlike strength, and even when some Barbarians became naturalized to be Greeks, they became ‗more Greek than Greeks‘, and hence, lent no hand to their kind; the same applied to Romans, and the barbarians, especially from Gaul and Germania (present day France and Germany), and the same is true, to date, of the Jews, thinking themselves racially superior to all, and some Arab leaders dining with them, protecting them, at the behest of fellow Arabs; and this harmful delusion was also resident amongst the Kiambu Mafia, claiming the flag would never cross River Chania, a most dangerous self- of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will; the divine will that makes Israel be the owners of promised land; the divine will that makes America the protector of the world; the Divine will that makes Cromwell ‗save‘ the soul of Catholics and malignants; the divine will that makes Andrew Jackson the agent of Manifest Destiny in freeing North America from the incubus of Sabbath-breaking Spaniards. Yeah, Raila has joined the rest, and in his silence, he has spoken loud enough. He is ashamed of the nakedness of his people, and so, he has denounced them, silently. Raila has a predisposition, and temperance which is malicious, libelous, and envious and jealous of true Luo progress. He has joined the others to laugh at his people, not knowing he is laughing at his image. Raila, just like Uhuru Kenyatta, Ruto, the kings and queens of Europe, and the other -ists, neo-colonialist and imperialists, has installed his princedom on the Luo, he has made new acquisitions of territorial base, both economic and political, and he
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Indeed, not a kind word, a word of inspiration, encouragement, praise or motivation escapes the lips of Raila when he is conscious. The Luos have been portrayed by the popular mainstream media as a people of dangerous myths and noxious opinions. People akin to ingratiating violence, redundant cultural practices and apt to reject progressive development. But we have had to advocate. Indeed, Raila has shed tears when things go wrong nationally, but not when Luos die in his support. The same was with his dad, and the same is in their family. Indeed, the Luos, every year is a horrible year, every year, to render in Aristotle‘s Nicomachean terms, is annus horribilis.
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has installed his ‗colonial‘ administrators, his puppets, his lieutenants, the MPs who stand at attention at the snap of his fingers; they are his lords. He depends on them to whip his lash. And he has even learned one amongst them, Prof. Emeritus Anyang‘ Nyong‘o being the most learned of them all. Raila is no leader, though he be a ruler, of various shades and colours. Indeed, he is a leader of his family, and his cronies, but not to the Luos. It ís not true that strong leaders must have big egos and spend all their time harnessing personal power. Instead, as John C. Maxwell, the great leadership author, pastor, and speaker teaches us in his classical book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, a leader serves his people through ensuring growth and development of people. Developing the people, making them better, is the true test of leadership. Raila scores an F in this, effortlessly. Raila might think he is a leader, but in actuality, he has no one following him. He has not made as many millionaires, no, billionaires as ten, he has not ensured his people follow his family in the foot steps of good schooling, better healthcare, classy lifestyle, no, he is up, alone, and whereas this ís good for his family, and for his personal motivation, both as a father, a grandfather, and a head of his family, it is stinking for the Luos. He has no one following him. He is just taking a walk.
Presidential aspirant Raphael Tuju convoy was pelted with stones, the attack of former South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara and the violence that took place in Rongo leaving four people dead. Tuju, while condemning the attack on Magara, said he was shocked when ODM released a statement saying Magara deserved the beating since he was in someone‘s territory. For a party to allow its official logo and colours in a paid up advert supporting violent attack on Magara, it tells you a lot about that party. But then, again, it could be that the fanatical ‗supporters‘ of Prime Minister Raila Odinga in Luo Nyanza are his worst enemies. A case of the lion who ate its master…but why did the master tame a lion, in the first place. I call them ‗supporters‘ in quotation marks because they are a disgrace to his campaign for State House. With ‗friends‘ like these, Mr. Odinga doesn't need enemies. Last week in Kisumu, these ‗supporters‘ set upon the convoy of presidential hopeful Raphael Tuju. They savagely attacked Mr. Tuju's rallies and stoned his vehicles smashing windows and injuring dozens. Let me put it plainly. And then in a classical Machiavelli
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Violence in Support of Raila
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move, he condemned the attacks without mentioning Mr. Tuju by name. Odinga is actually winking at barbaric attacks. Of course, nowhere is it written in the Constitution that only one person from Luo Nyanza – Dr. Odinga -- can seek the presidency, but it is plainly written in ‗The Prince‘.
However, it now seems that Raila, just like the iron Chancellor Bismarck, and his fiend, Hitler, seems to have united the Luos by accident, and not design; by accident, by simply capitalizing on opportunities. He is a master opportunist, finding a wave to ride on in a tempest, and fishing in troubled waters. Well, the Luos are now waking up and lo and behold the child who has been playing by the sleeping lion. We are stretching, yawning, and as our eyes partially opening, we are horrified that we spelt with the enemy. And our reaction, well, we have no reaction yet, or at least, we never did, till now. We must learn from Robert Greens condensed wisdom in 48 Laws of power; we must learn from Gen. Carl‘s On War; we must learn from Bonaparte‘s Doctrines of War Yeah, we must learn from Fredrick the Great of Russia; Alexander the great; Bovin, and even Hitler, we must learn from Giap of Vietnam, and Mao Zedong; we must learn to strike the enemy at his weakest point. We need to pretend defeat, fake a retreat, then ambush the enemy while being pursued. We must use Sun Tzu‘s direct zheng element and his indirect qi element; we need to ‗make uproar in the east, but attack in the west.‘ Like Genghis Khan, we need to draw the enemy out. We have the opportunity this year, and no other year. Either we change leadership (Raila), or we change leadership (Raila‘s style of leading). But come what may, something must be let go, and it should not be another young Luo life. Indeed, if we do not do this, if we do not rise to the occasion, then we better will be reminded of Benjamin, the donkey, "Life will go on as it has always gone on – that is, badly." Indeed, Luos are trapped, and like Maya Angelou‘s caged bird, ‗we know why we sing, we sing for freedom ‗
Oath of Allegiance, Defeat of Multipatism It is true that the current trend of politics in Luo Nyanza ‗make the MPs owe loyalty to one person and not the community that elected them‘, and hence ‗see no need for competitive development.‘ Indeed, any deviation from the tangent leads to threatening with the ‗curse of a pillar of salt‘ to the political careers of the
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For the prince to have effective control, his ‗supporters‘ will molest critics and create a republic of fear were he to become president. After all, the end justifies the means.
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concerned. A curse pronounced in silence, but executed with speed and accuracy by the unemployed youth, naming themselves coloured, and flowerily languages of and names of Baghdad and Taliban. Black, Bold & Stupid. In addressing the question of whether it is better to be loved or feared, Machiavelli writes, ―it is far safer to be feared than loved.‖ Raila reads from the script lucidly, and understand that when MPs make commitments our of fear of losing their seats, they will obey him. For it is true, today, when he says ‗Orengo asiingie‘, Orengo will not enter parliament. He secures the fulfillment of promises through fear, indeed, all ruthless rulers do. Raila is not the first, an as the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes 1:9) tells us, he will never be the last. There is in essence a Raila Delusion. Raila the savior today doers not, and that belief in a personal liberator qualifies as a delusion. The Luo persistently falsely believes in the face of strong contradictory evidence, that Raila will help them, he won‘t. The Luos want to read Robert Pirsig's statement in Lila that "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion backwardness." ‗Many Luo politicians are so focused on the trees of technological change political change that they fail to see the forest real problem: the underlying economic forces that determine success and failure, amongst the Luos.‘ The Odinga family is also guilty of ‗marginalizing Nyanza Residents to one party thereby eroding gains associated with Multipatism.‘ Maltipartysm can actually be solution to problems faced in Nyanza or anywhere else in the world. Just the same way we do not need religion to be good; the Luo does not need Raila to develop; or the presidency, for that matter. Prime Minister Odinga's ‗absent‘ condemnation of the attacks on Mr. Tuju would strike a blow against tribalism. That's because tribalists believe that only one person from each ‗tribe‘ should contest the presidency. This benighted argument posits that producing more than one presidential candidate from one community spoils or splits the ethnic vote. The contention is that ‗tribes‘ must vote in blocs like unthinking herds. This is how tribal kingpins develop a siege mentality on their communities. It holds ethnic groups hostage to thieving and corrupt elites who bargain for personal in the name of ‗their people‘. That's why tribalism has remained rife in Kenya. It's the reason those who don't support ‗their‘ ethnic kingpins are branded traitors. But it's ethnic
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Indeed, to paraphrase Carl Shapiro, in his masterpiece, Information Rules,
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kingpins and their supporters who are traitors to Kenya and the idea of nationhood. That's why Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Water minister Charity Ngilu are always at loggerheads. Each wants to be the Kamba kingpin. They accuse each other of ‗splitting‘ the Akamba. Mr. Musyoka thinks Mrs. Ngilu will divide the Akamba to deny him their full backing. Among the Kikuyu, Environment minister John Michuki has declared Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta ‗muthamaki‘ -- Kikuyu king -- and asked other Kikuyu presidential hopefuls to line up behind Jomo's son. He sees Gichugu MP Martha Karua, Safina Leader Paul Muite and Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth as ‗splittists‘ out to divide the Kikuyu and hand State House to a non-Kikuyu. Michuki was confident to states that there is only one way of getting into central votes, through Uhuru Kenyatta. And now in Rift valley, there is a party that has all the tribal MPS, and very few, if any from elsewhere. The African problem is now clearer than ever before. The colour seems to be cursed, maybe the bible is right.
There is hence an extreme balkanisation of communities into political monoliths under a single kingpin. And this is also true in Ivory Coast, where Quatarra mobilized his forces of rebels from the northern part of the country, where he hails. Also true of Libya, where the NTC mobilize dorm Benghazi. The same is still true of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and also true of other countries, which, of course, have NON WHITE SKIN. There is a marginal challenge facing the black leader. He is not ideologically savvy, and hence, he comes in, and he cannot even copy developmental ideas in other countries, with the exception of Botswana, and Idi Amin, the rest are held captive of the spell of the white man. It is now obvious that whites are not more developed in the brain than blacks. No, and neither are they more talented than blacks. There have been great whites, and there have been great blacks. Benjamin Solomon Carson was the first doctor to operate successfully on Siamese twins (The Binder Twins), and this was despite the whites having access to medical education before blacks; Obama has made it to white house, meaning blacks have the necessary drive. Maya Angelous, who has been described as "a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in America", has written wonderful poetry, meaning blacks, yes, even women, can write and enthrall their audiences. Ngugi Wa Thiong‘o has written classically, in African fashion, and it is obvious by his successes. Chinua Achebe has written masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, which ís now read in English speaking
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He can't condone a policy similar to ‗Kanu only zones‘ under which the Kalenjin Rift Valley was a no-go area for the opposition. Mr. Odinga must repudiate Mr. Tuju's attackers to show that he's a strong leader who is unafraid of challenge. Leaders who egg on their supporters to pour vitriol on competitors or physically molest opponents betray an underlying weakness. Those who would use violence to suppress opponents don't believe that they can win a straight and fair fight.
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countries schools. Colin Powell was the head of American Military, and two blacks have now been Secretary of States in US. Indeed, even in Russia, a black has become a politician, elected by Russian natives. Blacks have held leadership roles in international agencies, including UN (Kofi Annan), and Atomic Energy Association, which coincidentally. Was a Luo also. Blacks have been wonderful signers, dancers, entertainers, name it, form fifty cent, to r Kelly, jay z, Tupac, through Franco, Kofi olomide, and of course, great writers, like the authors, yours, truly. Indeed, blacks have been heads of IMF, advising on legal issues, look at Justice Ogoola from Uganda. What the above means is that Africans, and blacks for that matter, can and actually do have the intellectual wherewithal. All humans are the same, except those who are sick, who, of course, they are sick. But why, then, do the African presidents, some holding seven degrees like Mugabe, or honorary docrates ,like Museveni and Kibaki, why do they fail to implement even the simple things they see abroad in their many visits. Why do they fail to have the hospitals in their countries, and take their family member for treatment abroad, yeah, even their daughters to give birth abroad. What is wrong with them so that they continue to print more money, and give them out during elections? Is it their colour, NO, because we have already proved above that Africans are as smart, at least in the brain?
The leaders of Africa have an inferiority attitude. Attitude is am emotional thing. Emotionally, they do not really believe, deep in their hearts, that their people deserve to be first world. This si why even in their vision 20o20, and 2030, they do not write, Kenya, a first world nation by year 2030. No, they do not say, Rwanda, a firs nation by year 2020. NO. They have no confidence, no belief, their attitude towards the freedom of their African peoples of narrow. They have visions, but like Konrad Adenuer said decades ago, ‗ ‗they have short visions. African leaders have an attitude problem. Some of them actually love us, but they do not believe we can live the life ether families enjoy abroad. And so, they contain us in our present circumstances. And they even do not learn from Shakespeare, though they study him, when he said that, ‗All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances‘.
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The answer hence is attitude.
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They enter power, and then like Museveni, Mugabe, Ghadhafi, Ngueso, Gabon leader, they do not want to leave power. Stupid. Attitude! The assumption that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral or inherent genetic superiority is just that, an assumptions. The obvious differences in power and technology between Africans, third world generally, and the Europeans who dominated the land for 200 years, are neither due to any genetic superiority of Europeans nor intellectual imbalance between whites, and other races. People of Eurasian origin, have, and continue to dominate the world in wealth and power. They managed to do this through colonial domination, acquisition of wealth and subsequently, power. At the same time, they decimated, subjugated, and in some cases even exterminated by other people; the Sub-Saharan Africans, Native Americans, Aboriginal Australians, etc. they now use their wealth, both ell and ill gotten, to build their power, in military and weaponry, followed by investing in propaganda and cultural colonization, through their media and entertainment, achieved by their languages, chiefly English and French. Then they use more money to advance their political goals, by dictating their ideals of political organization, called western democracy, and deciding what kind of political ideology is not good, chiefly anything socialist, tending towards communism, or the left. They have understood the philosophy of Redbeard's message -- that And when they have consolidated their economic, political, military, and cultural power, they expand them exponetiously using technology and innovation. And then, they form alliances, so that they can continue exploiting the rest; the simple minded; those who leaders are stupid. The Africans. ‗We all live under the same sky, but e have different visions‘, noted former German president, Adenuer Konrad. How true in our case of comparison, blacks to the whites; Africans to the Europeans, and now, we are behind Asians, a people we were with on the same plane not more than 60 years ago. Attitude! Prof. Diamond, in his critical book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, is wrong to say we are lagging behind because of lack of adaptable plants, climate, population to feed, or geography, NO. It is attitude of the leaders. Indeed, if favorable climate and soils, and the plentiful food they produced, were important in deciding contributors to a population's accumulation of wealth, then Africa would be the richest, most powerful, country in the world. He argues that freedom from natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods made people less prone to superstition and therefore more likely to make rapid intellectual progress. This is true, but this has got more to do with attitude, than lack of the earthquakes. The theory of environmental determinism falls flat on the face. "Eurasia" is not "innovative"
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"you can go further with a handful of might than a bagful of right"
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
because the inhabitants are white. No, it is attitude. Before colonialism and during colonialism, Europe had more ‗transferable‘ and ‗duplicable‘ knowledge than the colonies, and hence, they had comparative advantage. But that was then, after independence, African government had the chance, and indeed got many opportunities, but the pace is tortoise, why? Attitude. Political factors, including open governance, republicanism, play a very important part in development. Africa never had these, but when we had them, we are not applying what e know. This is why we have president with seven degrees, and we cannot contain malaria, or child mortality. Why? Attitude. Our continent has appeared to be stuck in a process of irreversible decline. Constant war, improper use of natural resources and misappropriation of revenues and aid monies contribute to an impression of a continent beyond hope. Why? Attitude! Indeed, the more ‗upright‘ Europeans as ‗Tony Blair prefer to call Africa more gentlemanly as We would rather assassinate our potential saviors, than have them save us, and we did this to Lumumba, Mboya, Machel, Garang, Ouko, Che, etc. why? Attitude! I agree with Diamond when he relays the fact that circa 1500, during the Ming Dynasty, China's naval superiority over what Europeans could field was terminated by a single political decision, the hai jin ("ocean forbidden"); in a Europe fragmented into hundreds of kingdoms and nation-states, no such authority existed. Attitude! Similarly Japan learned about guns from Portuguese explorers in 1543 and by 1600 had the world's best guns; but as these threatened the power of the Samurai class, it restricted and finally banned their production. Attitude! Such concludes that such bans could be imposed only in politically unified and isolated nations, such as Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate. In India, of course, they decided there is different classes of people, in the same nation, again. Attitude! In Africa, always the pattern repeats: coup d'etat, cruelty, misery, murder, refugees and the collapse of infrastructure. No matter how much money the West throws at the problem. Africa has had the equivalent of six "Marshall Plans" but the money ends up in Swiss bank accounts. African presidents become millionaires immediately they get to office, look at Kibaki, Moi, Kenyatta, Museveni, Sesse Seiko, Abdullah Wade of Senegal, Quatarra, etc. But of course there are exceptions, in Botswana, South Africa and Senegal. These countries are multiparty democracies with well-run economies. They represent some hope that Africa might one day join civilization. Just to show it is not a colour problem. It is an attitude problem, Attitude!
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'scar on the conscience of the world'.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The leaders of Africa keep miserable armies, with rich officers. Regarding the troops of the prince, fear is absolutely necessary to keep a large garrison united and a prince should not mind the thought of cruelty in that regard. For a prince who leads his own army, it is imperative for him to observe cruelty because that is the only way he can command his soldiers' absolute respect. Machiavelli compares two great military leaders: Hannibal and Scipio Africans. Although Hannibal's army consisted of men of various races, they were never rebellious because they feared their leader. Machiavelli says this required "inhuman cruelty" which he refers to as a virtue. Scipio's men, on the other hand, were known for their mutiny and dissension, due to Scipio's "excessive mercy" - which was however a source of glory because he lived in a republic. Indeed, Shakespeare was right, African leaders are so well read, that they even reason against reading. They ban books, imprison writers, and doctor the history of their countries and nations classrooms. How learned!
And there have been heroes, including Amin, Nyerere, Nkrumah, Nasser, whose leadership save theri countries. Again, it is an attitude problem. Attitude! The continent has been cursed with corrupt, incompetent and greedy leaders who never cared for their subjects. There have been at least 40 successful and many more unsuccessful coup attempts these 5 decades. The latest fashion is to hold sham elections. In oil producing countries like Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Now Uganda and Cameroon, all the oil money ends up in the pockets of small ruling cliques while ordinary people subsist in misery. And yes, Shakespeare got it right, that though "though this be madness, yet there is method in 'it." It can be undone. In Republic, Aristotle says that ruling should be left to the most just and therefore least susceptible to corruption; that governors of the city-state (polis) should be disinterested persons who rule not for their personal enjoyment but for the good of the city-state (polis). And when Caesar said that ‗Caesar‘s wife should be beyond reproach,‘ he meant that justice should not only be done, but also be seen to be done. That where there is likelihood of corruption, there should be
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Indeed, there have been rogues, like Bokassa, Mobutu, Banda, Mugabe, Kaunda, Kenyatta, Mengistu, Nasser, Nguema,. Other reasons for the failure are also considered, for example the rapid rise in population and unfavourable trade terms with the West. whose families amassed wealth beyond measure.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
immediate removal of the officer concerned. Africans are poor in this, and whereas the Americans have taught us that, ‗the buck stops at the top‘, it seems the top in African leadership is for ‗those of other tribes.‘ Ghana was the first African state to gain independence in 1957; it was ruined within 8 years. Today the whole continent produces less than Mexico. Upon taking power, African leaders appointed their cronies in government instead of properly trained civil servants, of which there weren't many anyway. These ruling elites indulged in corruption, oppression and bribery from the beginning. Indeed, the Africa of famines, wars, massacres, AIDS and bottomless sink for foreign aid is depressingly, too true and are not likely to change in the foreseeable future. Why/ Attitude! One struggles to find any morality, any sense of duty to the nation or even common decency among the sordid thugs and thieves who grabbed power while mouthing slogans about "democracy" and "the people" as if they were upright guardians of liberty and stalwart defenders of the national interest.
Tribalism has ceased to be an identity issue and something to be proud of. It is a meal card, a ticket to the table of looting. It defines whose turn it will be to eat next, as John Githongo rightly encapsulates in his courageously written peace, it is our turn to eat. Tribalism was certainly one factor. Most of these countries were utterly unprepared for democratic processes. In the first place, the primary loyalties of an individual were to his family, tribe and ethnic group. Few, if any, had any meaningful loyalty to "the nation" as understood in Europe or America, for example. Naturally, political candidates in elections sought to garner support through tribal or ethnic appeals. Few of the newly independent African countries were free of major ethnic or religious tensions. In Africa there is a litany of incompetent government, of insatiable greed and exploitation on the part of leaders and their cronies, of unbelievable power lust and the resulting repression, of megalomaniac leaders with delusions of grandeur, of ludicrous levels of corruption and of the suffering of millions of ordinary people. Meredith's coverage is comprehensive and his style is easy to read. The inclusion of fascinating details about particular events or the personal lives of particular leaders brings the narrative to life.
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The number of people killed, wounded and displaced during these decades of madness run into countless millions. The war dead alone possibly exceeds ten million, an almost incomprehensible number.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Keichi Omahe writes in his classic, The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business, that ‗Creativity, mental productivity and the power of strategic insight know no national boundaries. Fortunately for all of us, they are universal." And this mantra, this philosophy, and this though pattern has seeped and slowly permeated the psyche of the populace, and today, this not uncommon to hear phrases like, ‗We Africans‘ Oro Africans cannot keep time Or Not in Africa Or The Europeans took 200 years with democracy, so, it will take time here, Or Or We will be like them, but in time All the while when the leaders, and their families, are living ‗white‘ lifestyles in their enclosed estates in African cities. This is the problem with Africa. The leaders. The leader‘s attitude. It is why Museveni can say that African leaders are stupid, flying in airplanes, when their people are dying in jiggers, and when he becomes president, he does the same thing. attitude. It is why Kenyatta says Uhuru and our land, and when he become president, his family, and his clique of tribal elders idlers, become the very first to take away land form eh future generations, hence the conflict between his tribe and the
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Democracy is not African; it must be made to fit here, so it will take time
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Kalenjin in rift valley. Kikuyus were settled in rift valley, and the president did not correct this and return people to their lands after the independent. After all, the home guards had taken the peoples wealth. This ís the problem that Ghadhafi was solving, when he mad this people live well, and he promised, ‗I will never live in a house until every Libyan is in a house, with water, electricity and gas.‘ Well, amongst the Libyans in Benghazi, there were those who did not want this, indeed, amongst his own generals, there were people who did not want this. And so it has become an issue, and will always be an issue, that if it ís Africa, then the leaders are having attitude problem. Mugabe, a great so in of Africa, having delivered his nation; Museveni, a great soon of Africa, having delivered the nation, and so did Mobutu sesse seko, and so did Wade, but now, they all suffer from an attitude problem. They do not have any less intelligent quietest. no. they are as sharp, or sharper.
Unlike Milton's Satan, Raila, and his Luo and ‗Luhya‘ league, do not just contemplate the harm that they could do to Luos, no, they are doing it. Luxury can no longer be an evil, hard work IS NOT the principal duty, and universal poverty will not be synonymous with the eon of Luos in this millennium. The Luos must rebel.‘
Raila and No One Else! Once again, Raila is making a stab at the presidency and the Luo are being rallied to vote one of their own. Anybody of contra opinion or dares oppose the tribe‘s candidate is a traitor. And what do we who are weak do? We, like in Hamlet, will speak daggers to Raila, but use none. We are that this is our time, our hope and our dream; our only chance to throw out the yoke of poverty and start the march to prosperity and opulence. We are also told, the much will not commence until and unless we win the presidency, and we shall only commence this march upon Raila, and not Onyango Oloo, Raphael Tuju or James Orengo, winning the presidency. Any other win is fake and not truly Luo. Or so we hear… Any Luo who has
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Russell‘s Ideas that Have Harmed Mankind clearly state that the misfortunes of human beings may be divided into two classes: First, those inflicted by the non-human environment and, second, those inflicted by other people. The Luos, with the help of Raila, and Raila cronyism, suffer from a maddeningly inebriating concoction of the two.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
challenged the Odinga's hold on the Luos has been harassed extremely. From Mboya to Ouzo, to Orengo, to Tuju. All our ‗snowballs‘ have been chased out of the farm. We have never had an Old Major. Yet we always manage to blame ‗Okuyu‘ and deflect any suspicion from ourselves. Indeed, the Luos, though cold, starving, and overworked, remain convinced that we are better off with, than without, Raila idea. The situation is Luo land is classical animal farm, where all Luos have adopted the Boxer maxim that, "we will work harder." And the miscreants of personality cult of Raila have chorused the hymn, ‗Napoleon Raila is always s right.‘
Luo affairs today are being decided by a committee of pig, literally, and boy, don‘t they have many ‗Squealers‘. One wonders, if John Milton was here, and drafting the Paradise Lost, which of Raila‘s lieutenants would be Mammon and Beelzebub and Belial and Moloch? His pigs have been turned into swine after being fed cheese and wine from Raila‘s hand. This Tsarist party of Pigs must know that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard its people, their natural rights, and their national interests. Soon and very soon, maybe sooner than we or they think, the Luos will realise that ‗the faces of the pigs look like the faces of humans and no one can tell the difference between them.‘ Raila should be reminded of the Shakespearean quote that, ‗As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him. ‗ ‗
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And just like in the rest of Africa, the pigs in Luo land have elevated themselves to positions of leadership and set aside special food items, ostensibly for their personal health. And as if that is not enough, Napoleon takes the pups from the farm dogs and trains them privately. And they don woefully wondrous names, including Baghdad Boys, Taliban, etc.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Eliminating Opposition Tuju & Raila Just like Mboya, Tuju‘s personality attributes have been his main advantage. Many see him as a sober politician, owing to his background as a savvy broadcaster, public relations man, entrepreneur and erstwhile Presidential counselor. This makes him an ideal and credible candidate capable of running a parallel campaign against Raila in the midst of a presidential transition in Luo Nyanza, much to the ire and irk of Raila, Agwambo, the indefectible, the enigma. He truly is an enigma!
This is opposed to Tuju who, upon assuming the legislative office in 2002, embarked on a thorough development in his constituency. He was credited with changing the face of Rarieda; to be a model constituency in Kenya owing to several development projects he initiated to uplift the standards of his constituents. According to architects behind his presidential bid, ever since independence and the emergence of ‗Odingaism‘ in Luo Nyanza especially after the death of Tom Mboya, the gains that had been made in the community took a backward trend, from the educated, most developed to the bottom competing with the marginalized group in the country. This is the platform on which Tuju is campaigning on. Tuju, who went against the grain in the 2007 general elections and contested a parliamentary seat on President Kibaki‘s political vehicle, Party of National Unity (PNU), was voted out by constituents despite the impressive development record in his native Rarieda constituency of Luo Nyanza. Raila applies might ís right pretty well, indeed, to him, ‗Ideal justice demands that the vanquished should be exploited, emasculated, and scorned.‘ And to his lieutenants and Baghdad boys and Taliban crew, ‗Disobedience is the stamp of the hero.‘
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Mboya & Odinga Senior Mboya, a scion of post-independent Kenya, was a cool calculator, charming as well as a humorous campaigner whose oratory skills guaranteed any major maneuvers and strategies in the government circles. This was seen when he championed the clipping of Jaramogi‘s wings in the young Kenyatta government. Mboya was behind the proposal of creating a new governance structure in KANU, where a position of eight new KANU Vice Presidents was created simply to frustrate Jaramogi who later resigned and formed a new opposition party, Kenya People‘s Union (KPU). To counter Jaramogi‘s move, Mboya quickly moved a Constitutional Amendment in Parliament which required any MP who had crossed to another party, seek the mandate of the electorate afresh.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The unruly and intolerant conduct of Mr. Odinga's Nyanza ‗supporters‘ smacks of dictatorship, and must be nipped in the bud. Raila is not a genial, kind and reasonable man. To say the least, Raila is not someone whom `every son will look for in his father, every woman will look for in her husband, and any mortal will look for in an inspirational leader.' In fact, Raila does not inspire true leadership, - he is strong (at the behest of Luos weakness); he is powerful (because the Luos are powerless) and he is a cunning genius and family man, but unwise as a leader of a people, the Luo. Raila is like a Spartan commander; excellent in tactical trickery, and, courageous. He is the Trojan horse of his masters, the neo-colonialists, neo-imperialists, capitalist blood suckers. Raila, through cunning political maneuvers, has managed to secure his power base. Just like the Great Cesare, the son to the catholic Pope Alexander VI, could use mercenary armies loyal to his captains, Raila has the services of youth brigades loyal to his lieutenants. And when some of his captains start to plot against him, they are ‗imprisoned‘ and ‗executed‘. This fate befell Ruto and Omingo Magara. But Raila must remember what Machiavelli, Seneca and Allan Gilbert all said, that,
In his classical book, The Origins of the Second World War, A.J.P. Taylor writes of Hitler to be a common German leader, working within the allowed foreign policy of Germany, whose only fault was to want too much power. The same is very strikingly similar to Raila. His popular hatred is not warranted. He just wants power, and has declared all systems go. And hence, Tuju, and earlier, Orengo, and maybe, soon, I, will just be a ‗collateral damage.‘ In such a power cyclical, the Luo is really in a Cul-de-Sac. No matter how hard we try to untangle ourselves, we continue to further get caught in the net. We are ‗screwed.‘ The waters are too muddy, we cannot swim.
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‗Bringing new benefits to a conquered people will not be enough to cancel the memory of old injuries‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
NEO-COLONIALIST/NEO-CAPITALISTS: THE LEECH CAPTAINS
In the Godfather Triology, by Mario Puzo, Balzac is quoted thus: "Behind every great fortune, there is a crime." You straddle with gait, Swinging as you walk, Sprading your hand, Shaking you car keys One hand in the pocket Another hand in your pocket, The other pointing at this and pointing at that, this, you land, That, your voter, This, your house, That, your woman, one of them, Then you steal form me, maize You swear and jeer, At my kind, my ilk Me and her, He rand him Me and him Him and her You drive big size 4 times 4 by 4 Flying choppers Then you teal form me, maize, You have security of men, Of policeman, Of state machinery, And you teal form me, Maize You go to represent me, but you oppress me You go on our behalf, and then you suppress us, And then, you steal form me, maize We languish shad suffer, We lament in torment, Because you steal form us, maize! †
Extracted from Fireplace Stories: Ojijo’s Performance Poems & Quotes. 2nd Ed. 2011. Pp. 103-4
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„AND THEN YOU STEAL FROM US, MAIZE!†
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The policy of the colonialists was to develop the resources, not the people. This is the policy of all neo-colonialists, be they black or white, Luo or Kikuyu, or indeed, Xhosa. They come in, prepare, and then take away. We must now develop the people; any leader who does that is a leader. Those who do not, like Raila and the rest, they are neo-colonialists, neo-capitalists, and neo-sycophants. Indeed, Raila, and his creed of Luo MPs which follow him like; ‗lwang‘ni mifwadhu‘ Together with other African leaders who represent the indirect rulerships of the colonialists, and imperialists, are what Achebe, in his classic, Arrow of God, refered to as, ‗Winterbottom‘
‗Absolut empower corrupts absolutely. To the capitalists, the seventh commandment of animalism, as propounded by Orwell in Animal Farm, does not hold. Indeed, ―all animals are equal, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL.‘ They truly are the ‗bottoms of winter‘. And on us they sit so! They are quite an arrow, Achebe would agree. But which god‘s will do they represent; all Luos are wont to ask? Now is the time to quote Chairman Mao, in his Little Red Book, when he motioned that, ‗ imperialism, both European and domestic reactionary forces, represent real dangers, and in this respect are like real tigers.‘ No Support for Workers! Karl Marx has taught all who care to learn, in his divine and maniacal Magnum opus of political economics, Das Kapital , that the motivating force of capitalism is in
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They are neocapitalists, neo-feudalists, neo-colonialists and beurocrat-capitalists. We do not need them; the Luos do not need them. Indeed, their kind is neither needed not deserved by Africa, or humanity for that matter. It is only the neos who love, no, relish, personality cults. A bigger than life picture. Their image is disastrous, suffocating. We must oppose them, they are corrupt, and if they get more power, tending to absolute power, then as we were warned by George Bernard Shaw,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Mill regarded economic development as a function of land, labour and capital. While land and labour are the two original factors of production, capital is "a stock, previously accumulated of the products of former labour." Increase in wealth is possible only if land and capital help to increase production faster than the labour force. It is productive labour that is productive of wealth and capital accumulation. "The rate of capital accumulation is the function of the proportion of the labour force employed ' productively. Profits earned by employing unproductive labors are merely transfers of income; unproductive labour does not generate wealth or income‖. It is productive laborers who do productive consumption. Productive consumption is that "which maintains and increase the productive capacity of the community." It implies that productive consumption is an input necessary to maintain productive laborers. Raila has not, and never will, organise workers and the poor and weak. It is against his capitalistic ideals. Mboya took it upon himself to organise the first City Council of Nairobi African Staff Association. In later years, his enemies were to accuse him of accepting western support, but there was evidence of the support, and Wangari Maathai, and other dignitaries, are there to confirm the same. He was offering his time and money free. Here and in later life, nobody paid him to unionise African workers. It came from an inner passion that abhorred colonial indignities African workers suffered in colonial Kenya. This is the difference between him and regular power-seeking politicians. The same applies to his personal sacrifice in founding the Kenya Local Government Workers Union (which caused him to be fired by the City Council), and the Kenya Federation of Labour. When did Raila hold a meeting, in support of the solidarity of workers? Btu again, when did the workers leaders themselves talk about this? They have not, and this leads to one clear conclusion, the leaders are as clueless, idealess, as the led. The ideological orientation, which offers the why, is lacking, hence the where and how is as obfuscated. To paraphrase Aristotle,
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the exploitation of labour, whose unpaid work, and hence, surplus value, is the is the ultimate source of profit and hence riches to the capitalists. The employer can claim right to the profits (new output value), because he or she owns the productive capital assets (means of production), which are legally protected by the State through property rights. In producing capital (money) rather than commodities (goods and services), the workers continually reproduce the economic conditions by which they labour. Any one who cares for the interests of the workers, who wants workers to enjoy the real fruits of their labour, will want to have them co-own capital, and the productive process. Such a person, indeed, such a leader, will want to mobilize and organize workers to pool their resources, and through cooperative effort, own the productive process, and then they can work for themselves. All of us know that this is not the case. And of course he says he is for them, but we know that, "the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose".
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
‗Raila is not a truly good friend to the Luos.‘ Indeed, to the cold and hurting Luo, Raila is has generated a great deal of heat and very little light lately, always. He, like all other before him, and all who will come after him (because there will always be another like him), are more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity. We now as Raila, as Shakespeare asked in Romeo & Juliet, ‗"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?". Raila is not tribal; has never been and will never be!! One thing we can be sure of is the fact that Raila can never be accused of tribalism. This is actually a Luo trait. There is no tribe that finds it harder to employ its own, or treat its own, in tribal way, than Luos. The Luos have always wanted to secure social justice and equality, and that i why they head political rallies, and will very quickly burn property, or fail to pay fees/rent, if it seems to be unfair. This is why they come close to liberators, not only in Kenya, but in Tanzania, Uganda and the region generally. Indeed, when Kenyatta was in jail, Jaramogi refused to compromise and be installed the president, stating that, And for this Kenyatta was forever, in eternity, grateful, and even when he was irked in Kisumu, he said that, ‗were it not for our friendship‘ And so, Odinga family, and Raila, can be accused of a lot of ills, but they are no tribalists. Indeed, like any capitalist, they play the card of tribalism to their own interests. All this is so clear, but ‗love is blind, and lovers cannot see". If Raila were tribalism, or he hated kikuyu as most are led to believe, then would he allow his first born son to marry a kikuyu? Would he allow his daughter to marry a Luhya? Indeed, none of his family marries a Luo. This is why when there was a car accident; it was having the president‘s son, and the prime ministers son. How tribal? Far from tribalism, they play the cards of tribalism, for the masses, but they eat from same table. They do same deals and they exploit, in the name of us and them. Tribalism racism, ethnocentrism, capitalistic, and neo-colonialstic
all
are
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‗Our leader is Kenyatta.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Racism, tribalism nepotism and other neo-centrist knee-jerk reactions are examples of the dehumanizing consequences of colonization. A neo colonialist like Odinga, Uhuru, Ruto, etc, will very quickly argue that the only way to fight and get to top office is to be tribal, almost racist, in African sense. Since African cultures were nations by themselves. Hence, the underlying mantra that, ‗Luos do not have because Kikuyus have‘ has grown, and has been used, together with the concomitant phrase of, ‗help me get this thing for us‘, as tools to enforce neocolonialist tendencies, and to the detriment of the ‗common man‘. The song is the same, albeit, suing by different singers, when Ruto, and his creed, come together to bring all Kalenjin folk to support their cause. And the same is true of Uhuru and GEMA; Kalonzo and Kamba, as well as the western and coastal ideologies. Is this any different from Cuba before Castro? Of course not. It is also the same for Iraq before Saddam, and now, Libya before Ghadhafi, and after Ghadhafi. The Odinga family is a neo-colonialist family; indeed, it is a family of captains of leeches. Theirs is leech captaincy. They are leech captains. They bleed drier than capitalists.
‗matter is always in a state of motion.‘ This means that if there is no forward movement, then the absence of evidence of backward movement is just that, lack of evidence, however, there is, inherently, backwardness. If I am growing richer, and my neighbors are growing poorer, then I must have found a way of stepping on them. This is acutely against the Luo mantra of friendship; ‗ma e osiep, ni kawa dhi e bungu ponoo mapera, aidho goki, to apono, kasto iidho goka, to ipono. Continental Europeans!
Representative
of
Imperialist
Aristotle defined man as that who is rational. The Europeans were to rely on this definition to conquer the ‗savage‘ tribes of distant lands, and brand them as ‗nonmen‘…irrational, and hence, they could be slaves, workers, and not have rights.
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There is no neutral state in nature; there is always movement, just as the law of physics is clear,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
And of course, there is no America as a country, there are Europeans. Americans, so long as they are white, are Europeans. Then, of course, there are Latin Americans, and black Americans and Asian Americans there are no white Americans, no, there are Europeans. It makes more sense when Obama has to go to Scotland and look for his 4th generation family, yet Africans are here, in Kenya, his brothers.
This is strikingly lacking in Africa. A new leader has to stop all programs by old leader, paint him black enough to make him give a youth a nightmare, and the new one can start his process of staling and theft. Museveni never fails to remind people how bad the old system was. The NTC has started catching the amnesia, reminding the Libyans how Gaddafu was terrible. Indeed, I \n some countries, even projects started by the old leaders are not completed. But even more disturbing is the ability of the Europeans to pass on their ideals to other leaders. Their colonialist, imperialistic, individualistic, Universalist ideals are easily accepted by already compromised leaders, ideology-less leaders. Leaders who are promised help to ascend to the throne of oppression. And this is where Raila falls, squarely, otherwise, why he would support Qattara, after UN held elections. Why would he support rebels in Libya? His capitalistic and neo-colonialstic ideals are evidenced by his actions in advancing interests of the capitalists and colonialists. By going to Ivory Coast, and asking for the president to step down, he was not as suave as Tom Mboya. It was not only colonial brutality in Kenya that concerned him. When the Sharpeville Massacre of 1961 took place, Tom Mboya was among the first African leaders to call for the immediate expulsion of apartheid South Africa from the Commonwealth. He and other African leaders prevailed. South Africa was expelled from the
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And I love the Europeans, because, they are always committed to their goals. They will not even let party identities, and change of power, destroy those ideals. And their first ideal is that, there are Europeans, and the rest. This is classical Chewesky identity politics. And the second ideal is even more suave, they always first secure their interest. This is actually Godly. If ever there was a selfish ‗person‘, it would be God, and this is because, unless I am selfish, I cannot love myself, and if I cannot love myself, then how can I love someone else. The Europeans are very committed to their interest, so much so that there is no mention of opposition parties in the super power countries. They are called by their name: republicans, democrats, liberal democrats, etc. and even if they change power, the flow of the water is towards the ocean, always. There will always be wars, and interventionism, and expansion of military footprints globally, and toppling of leaders not friendly to the administration, always, because this is the idea of Americans, parties or no democrats or GOP.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Commonwealth that year. Raila‘s position on Israel, Libya, Syria, not showing leadership. It is a fact that Kenya must now take her place in international affairs, and to that extent, Kibaki style leadership will not take us anywhere. We need a vibrant, vocal leader, with clear foreign policy positions on what is happening in the world. There is no longer place for silent diplomacy. A country, however, ‗non-aligned‘, must have clear positions. Fanon once wrote that in colonial societies, whites colonialists looked at Africans as hard as they could but, could not see a human being in them. Here is some evidence of this. Raila has not proved that he has seen value or men in Kibira and Luo land. No, he has not. Indeed, African presidents need more than 10years in power to see what they will never see. This is the curse of being black, a curse worse than the leprosy of King Abdullah. Indeed, Raila, and his breed, are aristocrats, and as do all of them, they plant the seeds of a revolution through behaving unjustly, and hence, they must be prepared to a certain of harvesting of revolution in time; after all, it is a law of nature, a natural law, that,
Family Take Over of Economic Wherewithal of Luos Raila reminds the Luo of Homer‘s Odyssey, him representing the idea a crowd of 108 boisterous young men, "the Suitors", whose aim is to persuade Penelope Luo to marry one of them, all the while enjoying the hospitality of Luo household and eating up her wealth. It is the role of the leader to show his people their best interest, and take them there. And Odinga the first vice president of Independent Kenya, was right in his way, to establish the Luo thrift company, and the Lolwe bus services, in the name of the community. But where did they go? What happened to the money of Luos, collected to be used to buy the land where now lies the molasses plant?
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‗you reap what you sow.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
If only the Luos became aware of their strength, the current Raila ideology would fizzle, it should have no power over us, after all, capitalists, neo colonialists and imperialists exploit based on information asymmetry; indeed, the negroes were exploited by the white because of the asymmetry, and being confounded with intense ‗southern Baptist religions‘. It is not wonder the rich exploit the proletariat. And this not all. Land by the lake is being bought, at a massive rate, displacing the Luos, and this is what Ojijo K‘oteko fought, the same Ojijo K‘Oteko who was killed just like Koitalel, and the body buried, without the head, under guard. Of course, Ojijo would have been a force against the Odinga family, and so, apart from the Ojijo rd, nothing remains in his history. Indeed, independence movement has been rediced to Odinga and Oneko from Luoland.
A case in point is the Kisumu Mollasses plant. He was given this plant by Moi as a present for delivering Luos to Kanu. Then he cleverly cheated Luos to raise money to buy the plant, money that he put in his pocket, and then allocated only 5% shares to them. The rest of the 95% shares and the money he collected he kept for himself. If he was clean and above board, shares for the plant should have been floated in the open market for all Kenyans to buy. He should have mobilized the various Luo organisations and groups to buy blocks of shares so that even the simplest sugar cane farmer would have had a portion of even one share. The legend Bob Marley sang, ‗You can fool some people some time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time‘ A further case is the Luo thrift company. The Luo Thrift Company was formed by Jaramogi and its sole purpose was to uplift the Luo. But the takeover of economic wherewithal is not inimical to Raila family. During the implementation of the policy of Africanization, ethnic tensions were orchestrated and developed especially around the structure of access to economic opportunities and redistribution of some of the land formerly owned by the white settlers.
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But even the Kikuyu, in their suave business ideals, and even the Indians, who have been with us far longer, have not encroached the lake, no; they have not, till now. And there is no need to talk about Youth Fund, or the Maize Scandal. It seems any leader worth his salt must steal, and the commons in their tribes will always come to their aid; attend their rallies and promise tribal support. SICK.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
In deed, Bildad Kaggia should be remembered for his refusal to be part of the acquisition when the then president, Jomo Kenyatta, was asked by Bildad Kaggia to stop taking land belonging to the masses, and he said, ‗Kaggia, we were with you (at kapenguria), what do you have for yourself.‘ And then we still have continual celebration of such a man, wish such utterances. We should recall the immortal words of James Allen, in his classic, AS A MAN THINKETH, who insists upon the power of the individual to form his own character and to create his own happiness. Thought and character are one, he says, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state." As Luos, today,
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‗Today we are where our thoughts have taken us, and we are the architects - for better or worse of our futures.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
NEO-HOMEGUARDS/CAPTAINSHIP WATERED BY FOUNTAIN OF LUO BLOOD SOME RISE BY SIN, AND SOME BY VIRTUE FALL Hat was Shakespeare 400 years ago…and the Luo ha for long held a saying that, ‗Oyieyo Chami, Tokudhi!‘ The rat eats your feet, and then blows wind so you do not feel the effect. The neo homeguards come like reverends and missionaries, but they entrench values of working for the white man. Here were again, with neo-homeguards. All Tribes Fought Colonialists!
Various tribes paid for independence movement, in bitter ways. The Luos and Luhyas were conscripted heavily to the world wars, the Kambas were house boys to the colonialists, with the attend exploitation and humiliation. The Kikuyus land was taken, they were forced into camps, and they were made slave labor source for the plantations. All who sneaked their heads we re killed, from Koitalel amongst the Kalenjin, to Ojijo K‘Oteko amongst the Luos, to Kinjekitile Mwenda, to Dedan Kimathi. Of curse, the winners of independence wrote their own version of history, and did not care to put epitaphs of the great. Their came first, including Nyayo monuments, and Mzee‘s erections of life size statues. This is why the current move by Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights, under the able Leadership of Jaoko, and the even abler, powerful ideological and brave and fearless leadership of Hassan Omar, has done very well to advocate for recognition of our heroes, through such initiatives as An Evening with Tom Mboya, etc. To this extent, Kibaki has been nothing less than a statesman, and the unveiling of Kimathi, Mboya, and hopefully, Ojijo, Kinjetektile, Koitalel, Kungu Karumba, Bildad Kaggia, Ochieng‘ Oneko, plaques, are just but the beginning of a new Kenya. The Rise of Homeguards Legacy But then the white men never did this alone, no, they used fellow Africans. They used homeguards. Some of the richest families in central Kenya were families of homeguards, who would take land belonging to the mau mau fighters when they were in the bush. The homeguards is the bestman who steal a kiss from the bride
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There is a lie, that only maumau fought for Uhuru. Every other occasion, they come up, and they are honoured, RIGHTLY SO. But all Kenyans were colonized, and all tribes paid their price, albeit differently.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
when the groom is in the changing room.teh homeguards take over their caretaker responsibility. They convert, and take over. They come to represent, then they oppress. They seek to take care of, and then they take it away. They come in our names, but they represent their own interests. Luos and Second Liberation
Indeed, to borrow the words of carol, in her monumnentary work, the Person is Political, ‗Luos are messed over, not messed up‘. It is only such view that will fight the Raila supremacy as a movement instead of blaming the individual Luo for his oppression using cultural, psychological, stereotypical arguments. The Luo mother must now sit down her youth, and materially analyse the causaleffect relationship of ‗supporting Raila‘ both in blood pints, and in a purely Marxist fashion, so as to focus the liberation of Luos from their yoke to group or class struggle for economic independence, which, as Nkrumah noted, will only come when we first ‗obtain the political kingdom.‘ to be free, the Luos, just like Carol Hirsch noted, must have ‗a purse of their own.‘ Our struggle is a materialist, poverty struggle. The Luos can toady be compared the Christian, in Bunyan‘s Pilgrims Progress, having been lured by Mr. Worldly Wiseman into seeking deliverance from his burden through the Law (violence), supposedly with the help of a Mr. Legality illegality and his son Civility incivility in the village of Morality, immorality, allegorically by way of the Wicket Wicked Gate. How pictorial of our situation today, how motivating for us to get out. Chairman Mao Tse Tung said that, ‗Shame is an important emotion, because it makes man to change his cause for the better,‘ It seems the Luos have not been shamed enough. If I was to take Bunyan‘s piece a little further, we are at the Hill Difficulty, and we need to get to House Beautiful, a palace that serves as a rest stop for pilgrims Luos to the Celestial City economic independence. If I were an avid reader of Ngugi‘s classical Wizard of the Crow, I would have now identified one of the five diseases, but unfortunately, I am a Luo, and that means, I am on the cross; I cannot read and analyse on an empty stomach and bare backs.
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However, the suffering for other tribes ended with independence, but not for Luos. The Luo tribe went into the phase for the second liberation of the country, and our leaders used us. Luos, whether in university of Nairobi as student leaders, or in trade unions, or in political parties, or just as masses in kamukunji, in Saba Saba riots, or in the shootings in Kisumu, have paid ultimately for their support of their leaders.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
This has come about due to the fact that the Luos suffered immensely under Kenyatta and Moi to the point where they were desperate for leaders who will fearless fight for them. The late Jaramogi Odinga, one of the most principled and honest politicians this country has ever had - took up this mantle but fate was not kind to him. His son ascended to this throne with the promise to deliver the Luo from socio-political wilderness. Unbeknown to the Luo community, he subtly changed course and is now leading them deeper and deeper into the hot desert while he is covered with a human umbrella and has fresh water at his disposal. He has even taken all the manna that dropped from heaven so that his people can remain hungry and beg from him. The captainship of Raila has been a captainship based on the blood of Luos, fed, watered, and nourished by continuous deaths of Luos. The Luo woman today cries at the loss of their sons, and even in 2012, almost 50 years after independence, more Luos will die, in support of Raila. And in all the depths, he claims to be a man more sinned against than sinning…unless he changes, ‗All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."
And yet the people we die for are intermarrying, and the other tribes do not die for them. Raila is our Achilles; he has dragged the Luo in the mud and dishonored her body. The funeral games for the Luo are lively, for the life of the dead is celebrated. Maybe he has lost in the war of liberation, but the Luo laments her loses too. The women in Luo land mourn. Many sons and daughters of the Luo community have died in this circus of the so called political and economic liberation while his closest relatives live in luxury. When its is appropriate, Raila sheds crocodile tears knowing well aware that these suffering and death only serves to reinforce the persecution complex within the community that ensures his political survival. As Watson writes of the care given to him by Sherlock Holmes, ‗It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask.‘ If only Raila would care, and prove once and for all that he is not a cold blooded mammal, which sheds only crocodile tears. Then he would be, and indeed, still is, at the best position to provide transformational leadership to the Luos. But we cannot afford to continue dying. Shakespeare was right,
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We should learn from Thoreau, individuals should not permit ‗governments‘ to overrule or atrophy their consciences. As Luos, we have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the ‗government‘ to make us the agents of injustice. And this fits in well with almost every ruling tribe in Africa, and the third world. The Kikuyu elite used the Mungiki; Qattara of Ivory Coast has his ‗soldiers‘. As did Charles Taylor, Mobutu; and the host of African dictators.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
‗death is a fearful thing.‘ A man can die but once. Indeed, the Luos have a proverb that, ‗tho ne minu‘ Meaning we should only die for our mothers, if we have to die for anyone at all. No other person, institution, or organisation, is worth dying for, indeed, it ís not worth dying for church, Islam, religion or political beliefs. We should only die because we cannot prevent it, not because we want to protect another person, definitely not another man. ONLY MOTHERS DESERVE THE SACRIFICE OF DEATH. This would be in stark contrast the to the current position of Bellum omnium contra omnes ("the war of all against all"), where Luos are fighting fellow Luos, in support of Raila. Surely, any non-Luo can see who the big brother is. The real enemy. The one who fishes in troubled waters.
As Luos are showing courage, but showing the wrong courage. Courage is not thought to relate to fear of evil things which it is right to fear, like disgrace, and courage is not the word used for a man who does not fear danger to his wife and children, or punishment for breaking the law. Instead courage usually refers to confidence and fear concerning the most fearful thing, death, and specifically the most potentially beautiful form of death, death in battle. The courageous man will sometimes fear even terrors which not everyone feels the need to fear, but he will endure fears and feel confident in a rational way, for the sake of what is beautiful, and life is beautiful, that is why Jihad in Islam is first and foremost, for conquest of self. Indeed, the jihad of dying is only allowed in war period, which ís also the bet time to show courage by any man, or woman, for that matter, not outside war. We should recall the words of Shakespeare, ‗The better part of valour is discretion‘ When Orlando Figes wrote about the tragedy common Russians faced during the October Revolution, he might have had a futuristic glimpse to the Luos tragedy in Kenya‘s second liberation. We lost great sons, Ouko, Mboya, and many others die during every pro-Raila demonstration. Shakespeare foresaw it when he wrote that, ‗"So wise so young, they say, do never live long". ‗
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Raila is to us like Baroka (the Bale), in Wole Soyinka‘s The Lion and the Jewel. He represents power and manipulation in a person. The Luos, Sidi, we represents the naïve, and egotistical qualities of humans. The Luo must believe that her self worth is above and beyond others, including Raila Idea. We need Lakunle, a leader who would love us, and honour us.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Sympathy for the charismatic leaders and ideological theorizing regarding ‗justice‘ and ‗ours‘ have caused our mothers to curse their breasts. Any caring reader wants to ask himself, "Who is the main villain behind the disasters that befall Luos, and Luoland?" The young Luo who is ready to die for Raila, or any other foreign leader, I ASK YOU A QUESTION in the tome of Carton of a Tale of Two Cities: When you are waiting to board the ‗tumbrel‘, having condemned to death by dying for another man who is neither in danger, not facing life threatening injustice, upon your arrival at you guillotine, or as Ngugi wa Thiong‘o would put it, upon your arrival at your cross, where your death will be quick, but the pain to your mother will last a lifetime; "do you see the lives for which you lay down your life as peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy when you are gone?‖ ‗Rash‘ people, those with excessive confidence, are generally cowards putting on a brave face. Such Homeric heroism will not deliver the Luos, but with great costs to our own existence as a community. The Luo youth need temperance, soundness of mind, moderation, and discretion. We must be our own men. The Luos must be great people. We must not esteem what is popularly esteemed. We must be frank in expressing opinions and open about what we hate and love. We must lead life as we choose and not as suits others, which would be slave-like. We must move slowly and speak with a deep steady voice, rather than being hasty or shrill which would be due to anxiety. As Luos, we must take our past suffering as a lesson. We need to say, as id Estella in Charles Dickens‘s Great Expectations, ‗‗suffering has been a stronger teacher.‘ We nee to learn, we must learn from our past, lest we fall by the curse of Dr D.J Mayo, who prayed thus; ‗God protect me from the man who never makes mistakes, And from the man who makes the same mistake twice.‘ Luos cannot afford to make the same mistake twice. No, not again. Hapana, Watamre.
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‗Allegro ma non troppo.‘
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Iseyo ogwang’, to Iseyo gweno
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Targeting Archiles Heel!
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
EVERY GENERATION HAS A DICTATOR; AND A SAVIOR SIGAND ODHIAMBO KAMGUNDO!‡ We uru agannue sigana moro mani kuom odhiambo, We uru agannue sigana moro mani kuom odhiambo Chieng’ moro jodala kone rit jokuoge makwalo dhowa inegnwa moro, Chieng’ moro jodala kone rit jokuoge makwalo dhowa inegnwa moro, Odhiambo kamguhdo kamirima mako tokawo tonge, Odhiambo Kamgundo kamirima mako tokawo tonge, Otieno saa aboro kuwuotho e dipo toneno jaaa-kwo Otieno saa aboro kuwuotho e dipo toneno jaaa-kwo Thup tochowo, sulu tonego, jakwo onindo, Thup tochowo, sulu tonego, jakwo onindo,
Every Generation Has a Dictator, and a Savior
‗kila mtu na mizigo wake, toka kwa mungu baba.‘ Everybody has their own load, from God. If the same ere applicable, then every people invite upon themselves a load of leadership they can carry. In the history of man, every nation, every community, has always had a dictator, and a savior. The South Africans had the apartheid afrikaaners, headed by, amongst others, the co-winner of Nobel peace prize. And they had their saviors, including Mandela, Oliver Tambo and the rest. The Chinese had, and they had Chairman Mao. The Russians had the tsars, and they also had Stalin and Lenin. The Iranians had the tsars, helped by the Americans, and they also had Ahmedinejad, together with the great ayatollah. The French had the bourbons, and then they had the tem of six. The Americans had the slave owners of the south, and then they had the great martin Luther, Malcolm X, and the rest. The Egyptians had the Britons, and then they had col. The Cubans had Batista, helped by the Americans, and then they had Castro. We had i am smith, and we had Mugabe in Zimbabwe. We ‡
Extracted from Fireplace Stories: Ojijo’s Performance Poems & Quotes. 2nd Ed. 2011. Pp. 103-4
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The Christians believe that God does not give man a load he cannot carry. Indeed, the waswahili of the east African coast say that,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
had Congo, with Belgians, and we had Patrice Lumumba. We had he mobutu Sesse Seiko, and we had … we had the Mozambique, and we ha Samora Machel. We had…and we had Franz fanon. The Libyans had the Americans and Britons, supporting the king, and then they had Ghadhafi, and of course, they, like the bourbons, leant nothing, and forgot nothing, and now, they are back to square one. They should be reminded of the prayer of the founder of mayo clinic, ‗God, deliver me from the man who does not make mistakes, and the one hat makes the same mistake twice.‘ From the above sample, it seems clear that the world over, there re always dictators, and saviors, in the same population. They never come from outside, and if they do, they take over.
Orwell reminds us in the Animal Farm that every revolution breeds various variants of corruption and Raila‘s has been no less; the wickedness, indifference, ignorance, greed and myopia has corrupted the revolution. It is the corrupt leadership which has been the flaw in all revolutions in the world, and especially in Africa (and not the act of revolutions themselves). And to wit, potential ignorance and indifference to problems has made things worse, with young people not joining parties or voting, learned people failing to debate matters, and old people not offering much needed advice. The Luos must save themselves. The solution ís with them. As the Arabs noted, ‗The wearer the shoes know where it pinches most.‘ We know our problem, unless we lie that we do not have a problem, as most Luos say, well, they should remember the saying that, ‗I lie the loudest when I lie to myself.‘ And Obama was right, ‗We are the ones we have been waiting for.‘ The Luo suffers beneath the whip-lash of oppression. Missions are pillaged, native peasants are abused, and innocent men and women are persecuted by the morally corrupt system. The Luo needs Zorro. Someone with the daring of the fox, and
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And here in Kenya, we had Kenyatta, and then we had Kaggia, and Odinga, and Argwings Kodhek, and `j.m. Kariuki. And we had Moi with his oppressive rule, and we had Raila, and the bearded sisters, matiba, orengio, etc. and we had Saba Saba, etc. every generation has a dictator, and a savior.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
courage to enlist others to support him in his just cause; the power to make us wish that noblemen possessed nobility. The Luos need a savior. Indeed, all people need a savior. Human beings are always in need of a leader, indeed do beign led, someone, to hold the lamp, so that the rest can follow. People need to be to where to go, why they should go there, how they will reach there, and when. Then they can think about it, and decide if that is the best way. This ís the work of the leader. To identify the direction, and the vehicle to get people; there, with himself as the driver. With herself as the driver... However, as Rousseau noted a century ago, people often did not know their "real will," and that a proper society would not occur until a great leader ("the Legislator liberator") arose to change the values and customs of the people, likely through the strategic use of religion. The Luos need this liberator.
The Luo must be ready to be hero of his epic. And he should be encouraged by Shakespeare, ‗Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. ‗
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Like Ngugi‘s Matigari, the oppressed masses instead of standing up for one another chose instead to oppress the weaker ones amongst them. A people who should stand together and speak as one chooses instead sell out their brothers because of political offices. A Government of a country instead of getting the endorsement of her populace prefers praise from foreign countries. This is the story of the masses needing a savior; someone who can think for them and tell them which way to follow, someone who can speak for them against their oppressors, someone who has their interest at heart. Matigari ís a story of Luos, in the hands of Raila, and Odinga‘s.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
ALIBABA & THE 40 THIEVES
And when their former, fellow revolutionaries do not want to ‗eat‘, or prevent them from ‗eating‘, the true revolutionaries are arrested as Congolese president and capitalist reactionaries did to Lumumba; the true freedom fighters are sent from the party, and government, as Jomo Kenyatta, first Kenyan president, did to Odinga, Kaggia, etc; the honest servants of the republic are assassinated as was done to Thomas Sankara by Blaise Compaore; as Lumumba was assassinated by the Belgian and US agents; as Che Guevara was assassinated by the Bolivian President; as , Ghadafi was executed by the NTC rebels; as Tom Mboya, Argwings Kodhek and Poi Gama Pinto were executed by the Kiambu Mafia in Kenya; as Samora Machel was assassinated by the reactionaries of the USSR and South Africans after telling them to ‗vita marda‘; to ‗eat shit‘; as mahatma Ghadhafi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and the others, were taken out, one by one, by own rank and file. So that the thieves could ransack the granaries of their villages without any heckling; and they did, not less with the help of their white capitalist big brothers, who all the time station their big ships in the high seas, near the coasts, ready to come and help their black capitalist brothers rob their people blind, if the people dare rise up. This is a tale of 100 intelligent knowledgeable but stupid politicians. A TALE OF 100 INTELLIGENT KNOWLEDGEABLE BUT STUPID POLITICIANS Ojijo writes in his classical book, The Gift of E11even Moves to Make Me Wealthy, that, ‗to know about something is to be informed, To know about something, and how to do it, is to be knowledgeable, and to know about something, and how to do it, and then do it, this is intelligence; being smart. The opposite is being stupid.‘
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When Julius Caesar said the immortal words, veni vedi vici, (I came, I saw, I conquered) he might just have set the precedent for African leaders, and indeed leaders of the poor countries, to third world, to always scramble to still more than their predecessors stole, without developing the source of such wealth. Indeed, Githongo, the exiled Kenyan Anti-corruption czar was right, ‗when ‗stupid‘ leaders get into power, the leaders we must now call rulers, their mantra is, ‗it is our time to eat,‘, and their mission is to take as much as they possibly can. And so they eat, they own thousands of hectares of land stolen from their people, in the name of freedom; staling in the name of the lord. They appoint their tribesmen, they cronies, and their buddies into government, and they brag to their former fellow revolutionaries and freedom fighters, as Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya did, ‗what have you done for yourself.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The African leaders have travelled and traversed the globe, but they do not see; the African leaders have seen and been shown the greatest works of man to make man‘s life enjoyable, from infrastructure to arts, hospitals to homes but they do not apply at their homes; the African leaders have read books and received degrees, but they do not apply to their nations. They still take their daughters to give birth abroad, like Museveni of Uganda (and they do so in presidential jets); they still go abroad for their own basic treatments (al most all presidents of Africa do this, and to boot, Raila who goes to Germany for eye check ups); they cannot build roads similar to the ones they see, they cannot build hospitals, schools, provide shelter, medicare, or even co-curricula as they see and read…they are stupid. They know but they are not doing. They are stupid. They have an attitude problem. They are stupid. They despise their people. They are inferior to the counterpart white leaders. They are stupid. They have small dreams, their visions do not see Africa as a first world nation, no, and they see Africa as a middle income nation. They are stupid. They are the heads of the fish, they are rotten, and they should be cut. They are stupid.
The savior must stand on the shoulders of the venerable saint. Karl Marx. He whose mere name, lave alone the glimpse of his picture, can send all committed capitalists relentless conniption of fury and convulsions. He whom they Herr Marx? It not for him the theories of Aristotle about automation could not have been any clearer. He who told workers that unless they unite, they would be used, abused, and then, eliminated when they became unuseful, by the capitalists. He who asked that we do not fight with guns, but with collectivism, with solidarity. Eh who wrote the classical Magnus opus, Das Kapital, and The Communist manifesto, which to date, reminds workers, that they are oppressed not because they are black and not white; they are suppressed not because they low caste or middle class; they are suffering not because they are Muslims or Christians; but all their struggles are because they fail to unite; to form themselves into cooperatives, collectives which would allow them town the production process, and by so doing, earn their true values worth in work.
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The Africans, the Luos, need a savior. The savior must stand on the shoulders of gone giants and past pious people. The savior must learn and apply.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The savoir needs to stand on the shoulders of Jawaharlal Nehru emerged as one of the greatest political leaders of the world, ever. Jawaharlal Nehru was an active member of the Indian National Congress Party and later elected as the first Prime Minister of independent India. Nehru was at the helm of the political craft and one of the key leaders to frame and execute the initial policies. Nehru was greatly influenced by the Stalinist form of socialism and wanted to follow the same in India and introduced the first FiveYear Plan in 1951. Nehru's contribution and role also changed the political equation during the cold war. He, along with world leaders like Gamal Abdel Nasser and Sukarno founded the Non Aligned Movement. The institution was formed to maintain equidistance from the power-blocs. This undoubtedly managed to create ripples in the centre of world politics. In 1944, during his stay in Ahmadnagar prison, Nehru wrote, "The Discovery of India". The book tells
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The Luo needs a savior prince, one who rises to power through her own skill and resources (their "virtue") rather than luck. This prince will have a hard time rising to the top, but once she reaches there, as Machaivelli says in The Prince, she will be secure because she effectively crushed her opponents to earn great respect from everyone else. Because she is strong and more self-sufficient, she will not need to make many compromises with their allies. African leaders, on the other hand, are always here because of their imperialists, white capitalist masters. They come to power because, like quattara, France was willing to let them. He must now make many compromises. Like the Benghazi rebels, NATO, through US, France and Europe was willing to help, an now, they pay with contracts and infrastructure deals to satisfy the west‘s indeed, the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, the defence secretary for US and UK, and the France media, have all said that businessmen should line up an go to Libya indeed, the French even say that the west should not fight for the spoils, there is more than enough for everyone. Leaders like Mobutu, who wa installed by the US, Kai Shek, who was supported by the imperialists US and Britain in China, the Tsars in Iran who were the puppets of US, the client states the west, should learn from Castro, as elf made man; Samora Machel, Nelson Mandela, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Stalin and V. Lenin of Russia, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The savior must stand on the shoulder of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin the Premier of the Soviet Union who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee. In 1928, Stalin replaced the New Economic Policy of the 1920s with a highly centralised command economy and Five-Year Plans, launching a period of rapid industrialization and economic collectivization in the countryside. As a result, the USSR was transformed from a largely agrarian society into a great industrial power, and the basis was provided for its emergence as the world's second largest economy after World War II. He used prisoner to provide labour, rather than have them launching in the prisons. In power until his death in 1953, Stalin led
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about the History of India - from ancient times, to the formation of British India and the Indian Independence Movement. Nehru started delivering political speeches to deal with the issues like Hindu-Muslim unity, self-reliance and poverty and employment. Nehru emerged as a popular political leader among the masses in northern India. His passion for social justice and equality attracted India's Muslims, women and other minorities. Nehru launched various schemes to promote education, water and electricity supply and reduce unemployment. Discontented with the corruption amongst the civil servants, Nehru resigned from his post. In 1927, he became a member of the League against Imperialism created in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. On 15 August, 1947, Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India to hoist the national flag and make a speech from the ramparts of Red Fort. In 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. The incident left Jawaharlal Nehru disappointed and alone. Nehru in 1951 launched the country‘s ―First Five-Year Plan‖ emphasizing on the increase in the agricultural output. Nehru, being a follower of anti-imperialist policy, declared to support the efforts of small and colonized nations, in their liberation. Nehru was one of the founder members of the NonAlignment Movement and kept India away from being a part of the global bifurcation.
the USSR during the period of post-war reconstruction, marked by the dominance of Stalinist architecture (most famously represented by the Stalin skyscrapers). The successful development of the Soviet nuclear program enabled the country to become the world's second nuclear weapons power; the Soviet space program was started as spin-off of the nuclear project. In his last years, Stalin also launched the so-called Great Construction Projects of Communism and the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature. Shortly after leaving the seminary, Stalin discovered the writings of Vladimir Lenin and decided to become a Marxist revolutionary, eventually joining Lenin's Bolsheviks in 1903. After being marked by the Okhranka (the Tsar's secret police) for his activities, he became a full-time revolutionary and outlaw. Prior to revolution Stalin played an active role in fighting the tsarist government. With seed capital unavailable because of international reaction to Communist policies, little international trade, and virtually no modern infrastructure, Stalin's government financed industrialization both by restraining consumption on the part of ordinary Soviet citizens to ensure that capital went for re-investment into industry and by ruthless extraction of wealth from the kulaks. The most notable foreign contractor was Albert Kahn's firm that designed and built 521 factories between 1930 and 1932. As a rule, factories were supplied with imported equipment. Under the Soviet government people benefited from some social liberalization. Girls were given an adequate, equal education and women had equal rights in employment, improving lives for women and families. Stalinist development also contributed to advances in health care, which significantly increased the lifespan and quality of life of the typical Soviet citizen. Stalin's policies granted the Soviet people universal access to healthcare and education, effectively creating the first generation free from the fear of typhus, cholera, and malaria. The occurrences of these diseases dropped to record low numbers, increasing life spans by decades. Soviet women under Stalin were the first generation of women able to give birth in the safety of a hospital, with access to prenatal care. Education was also an example of an increase in standard of living after economic development. The generation born during Stalin's rule was the first near-universally literate generation. Millions benefitted from mass literacy campaigns in the 1930s, and from workers training schemes. Engineers were sent abroad to learn industrial technology, and hundreds of foreign engineers were brought to Russia on contract. Transport links were improved and many new railways built. Workers who exceeded their quotas, Stakhanovites, received many incentives for their work; they could afford to buy the goods that were mass-produced by the rapidly expanding Soviet economy. Stalin followed the position adopted by Lenin that religion was an opiate that needed to be removed in order to construct the ideal communist society
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The new savior needs to stand in the shoulders of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist who was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution, who saw the economic inequalities were an intrinsic result of capitalism, monopolism, neocolonialism, and imperialism, and watched how CIA overthrew the Guatemala's President Jacobo Arbenz and stopped the social reforms. He joined Fidel & Raul Castro and overthrew the U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He instituted agrarian reform spearheaded a successful nationwide literacy campaign, and was both national bank president, instructional director for Cuba‘s armed forces, and a diplomat on behalf of Cuban socialism. He brought Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles to Cuba, helped revolutions Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia, where he was captured by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and executed. In reference to Che's "restless" nature, his father declared " my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels." He developed "affinity for the poor." The Guevara home contained more than 3,000 books, which allowed Guevara to be an enthusiastic and eclectic reader. A motorcycle journey the length of South America awakened him to the injustice of U.S. domination in the hemisphere, and to the suffering colonialism brought to its original inhabitants." through his travels of Latin America, he came in "close contact with poverty, hunger and disease" along with the "inability to treat a child because of lack of money" and "stupefaction provoked by the continual hunger and punishment" that leads a father to "accept the loss of a son as an unimportant accident." the "dominions" of the United Fruit Company, convinced him "how terrible" the "Capitalist octopuses" were. Guevara deemed that U.S.-controlled conglomerates installed and supported repressive regimes around the world; they are "U.S. puppet whose strings needed cutting." He was the ‗best gorilla of them all‘ in training, and ―Castro's brain". He waged the "battle against ignorance." Along with land reform, one of the primary areas that Guevara stressed needed national improvement was in the area of literacy. Before 1959 the official literacy rate for Cuba was between 60–76%, with educational access in rural areas and a lack of instructors the main determining factors . As a result, the Cuban government at Guevara's behest dubbed 1961 the "year of education", and mobilized over 100,000 volunteers into "literacy brigades", who
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Accompanying literacy, Guevara was also concerned with establishing universal access to higher education. To accomplish this, the new regime introduced affirmative action to the universities. While announcing this new commitment, Guevara told the gathered faculty and students at the University of Las Villas that the days when education was "a privilege of the white middle class" had ended. "The University" he said, "must paint itself black, mulatto, worker, and peasant." If it didn‘t, he warned, the people would break down its doors "and paint the University the colors they like." "Man truly achieves his full human condition when he produces without being compelled by the physical necessity of selling himself as a commodity." He viewed capitalism as a "contest among wolves" where "one can only win at the cost of others," and thus desired to see the creation of a "new man and woman." Guevara continually stressed that a socialist economy in itself is not "worth the effort, sacrifice, and risks of war and destruction" if it ends up encouraging "greed and individual ambition at the expense of collective spirit." A primary goal of Guevara's thus became to reform "individual consciousness" and values to produce better workers and citizens. A further integral part of fostering a sense of "unity between the individual and the mass", Guevara believed, was volunteer work and will. To display this, Guevara "led by example", working "endlessly at his ministry job, in construction, and even cutting sugar cane" on his day off. He was known for working 36 hours at a stretch, calling meetings after midnight, and eating on the run. Such behavior was emblematic of Guevara's new program of moral incentives, where each worker was now required to meet a quota and produce a certain quantity of goods. As a replacement for the pay increases abolished by Guevara, workers who exceeded their quota now only received a certificate of commendation, while workers who failed to meet their quotas were given a pay cut. "This is not a matter of how many pounds of meat one might be able to eat, or how many times a year someone can go to the beach, or how many ornaments from abroad one might be able to buy with his current salary. What really matters is that the individual feels more complete, with much more internal richness and much more responsibility." Guevara antagonistically attacked the United States claim of being a "democracy", stating that such a system was not compatible with "financial oligarchy, discrimination against blacks, and outrages by the Ku Klux Klan." Che Guevara had emerged as a "revolutionary statesman of world stature" and thus traveled to New York City as head of the Cuban delegation to speak at the United Nations. During his impassioned address, he criticized the United Nations inability to confront the "brutal policy of apartheid" in South Africa, proclaiming "can the United Nations do nothing to stop this?" Guevara then denounced the
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were then sent out into the countryside to construct schools, train new educators, and teach the predominately illiterate Guajiros (peasants) to read and write.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Frantz Fanon, the psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, war strategist and writer of the great The Wretched of the Earth; whose work is influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism. He supported the Algerian struggle for independence and became a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front. He defended right for a colonized people to use violence to struggle for independence, arguing that human beings who are not considered as such shall not be bound by principles that apply to humanity, in their attitude towards the colonizer. The savior must be prepared to offer violent resistance to the oppressors. Any resistance to this strength must also be of a violent nature because it is the only 'language' the colonizer speaks. Even Barack Obama references Fanon in his book, Dreams from My Father, as an intellectual influence. And the Caribbean Philosophical Association offers the Frantz Fanon Prize for work that furthers the decolonization and liberation of mankind. Fanon is a symbol of resistance and revolution. People who read him became anti-colonialists." Fanon said, "When we revolt, it's not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe." Salman Rushdie quotes Fanon in "The Satanic Verses", to express anti-British sentiment.
The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein a colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of modernization, and socialist reform in Egypt together with a profound advancement of pan-Arab nationalism. Under his leadership, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal Company and came to play a central role in anti-imperialist efforts in the Arab World and Africa. He was also instrumental in the establishment of
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United States policy towards their black population, stating: "Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men—how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom?"
the international Non-Aligned Movement. He is a symbol of Arab dignity and freedom. Nasser became involved in politics at an early age, being elected chairman of the Young Egypt Society during his teenage years. Nasser was wounded during an anti-British demonstration, in which several students tried to cross Abbas (el-Roda) Bridge in Cairo to clash with the police. Afterward, he was arrested and detained for two days along with several members of the Egyptian Socialist Party. He organized the founding committee of the Free Officers which eventually comprised fourteen men from different social and political backgrounds, with some being members of Young Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Egyptian Communist Party, as well as the aristocracy. Nasser was unanimously elected chairman of the organization, "nobody knew all of them and where they belonged in the hierarchy except Nasser." Nasser and his fellow revolutionaries also gave in to American pressure by allowing the deposed king and his family to leave Egypt unharmed and with an honorary ceremony. The reforms Nasser pursued were agrarian reform, the abolition of the monarchy, and the reorganization of political parties. Nasser adopted the "positive neutralism" of Josip Broz Tito and Jawaharlal Nehru as his foreign policy. "Nasser's greatest achievement was his funeral. The world will never again see five million people crying together."Nasser's was a leader who reformed his country and re-established Arab pride both inside and outside of it. They testify that under him, Egyptians enjoyed unprecedented access to housing, education, health services, and nourishment as well as other forms of social welfare. Nasser is credited for severely curtailing British influence in Egypt, elevating it to upper world circles, and reforming the country's economy through agrarian reform, major modernization projects such as Helwan and the Aswan High Dam, and various nationalization schemes. While Nasser was president, Egypt experienced a cultural boom, particularly in theater, film, literature, and music. Nasser's Egypt dominated the Arab world in these fields, producing singers, literary figures and producing over 100 films a year compared to just more than a dozen in recent years. Nasser "imparted a sense of personal worth and national pride that they [Egypt and the Arabs] had not known for 400 years. One of his most noted speeches was in Cairo on 9 July 1960 where he outlined the concept of "the Three Revolutions", in which Zionism was the main enemy. In order to be successful, a permanent climate of revolution had to be maintained until the accomplished goal. The first revolution was the overthrow of colonialism, the second the defeat of division and false frontiers created by outsiders in society, and the third to create honorable living for every person. He was a recipient of the Hero of the Soviet Union title. The savior needs to stand in shouler of Gamal Abdel Nasser from Egypt, he who was strong in defence of his nation‘s interest, and who they tried to kill so many times, until they succeeded. The MI6 plotted to assassinate President Nasser during the Suez Crisis.
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz the Cuban revolutionary and politician, the Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008, who also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011. Politically a Marxist-Leninist, under his administration the Republic of Cuba was into a socialist state, with industry and business being nationalised under state ownership and socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society. He led a successful guerrilla war against Batista's forces, with Batista himself fleeing into exile in 1959. The CIA organised the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 to overthrow his government, before proceeding to orchestrate repeated assassination attempts against him and implement an economic blockade of Cuba. He led the transformation of Cuba into a socialist republic, nationalizing industry and introducing free universal healthcare and education. A keen internationalist, Castro then introduced Cuban medical and literacy brigades who worked throughout the developing world, and aided a number of foreign revolutionary socialist groups in the hope of toppling world capitalism. He is a champion of anti-imperialism, humanitarianism, environmentalism. Castro's passed several new laws including Rents were cut by up to 50 per cent for low wage earners; Property owned by Batista and his ministers was confiscated; The telephone company was nationalized and the rates were reduced by 50 per cent; Land, including his own portion was redistributed amongst the peasants and he abolished separate facilities like swimming pools, beaches, hotels, cemeteries for blacks and whites. Nonetheless, he has had a significant influence on the politics of a number of other world leaders, namely Nelson Mandela, Hugo Chavez and Eva Morales, and he is widely admired for leading his country's resistance to imperialism. "Marxism taught me what society was. I was like a blindfolded man in a forest, who doesn't even know where north or south is. If you don't eventually come to truly understand the history of the class struggle, or at least have a clear idea that society is divided between the rich and the poor, and that some people subjugate and exploit other people, you're lost in a forest, not knowing anything." Castro set about visiting Havana's poorest neighborhoods, witnessing the nation's huge social and racial inequalities, and became active in the University Committee for the Struggle against Racial Discrimination. He also became an active member of the Cuban Peace
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Committee, a part of the international campaign led by British intellectual Bertrand Russell to oppose western involvement in the Korean War. On May 17, 1959, Castro signed into law the First Agrarian Reform, which limited landholdings to 993 acres (4.02 km2) per owner and forbade foreign land ownership. Cuban troops were also sent to Marxist Ethiopia to assist Ethiopian forces in the Ogden War with Somalia in 1977. In addition, Castro extended support to Marxist Revolutionary movements throughout Latin America, such as aiding the Sandinistas in overthrowing the Somoza government in Nicaragua in 1979. "I'm really happy to reach 80. I never expected it, not least having a neighbor – the greatest power in the world – trying to kill me every day."— Fidel Castro, July 21, 2006As a socialist, Castro believes strongly in converting Cuba, and the wider world, from a capitalist system in which business and industry is owned by private individuals and organisations, into a socialist system in which all business and industry are owned by the state on behalf of the populace. In the former, there is a class divide between the wealthy classes who control the means of production (i.e. the factories, farms, media etc) and the poorer working classes who labour on them, whilst in the latter, socialists argue, this class divide would be obliterated as society becomes more egalitarian. Marxism is the socio-political theory developed by German sociologists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century. Marxists believe that capitalism replaced feudalism in the Early Modern period as the wealthy industrial class, or bourgeoisie, took political and economic power from the traditional land-owning class, the aristocracy and monarchy. In the same process, Marxists predict that socialism will replace capitalism as the industrial working class, or proletariat, seize power from the bourgeoisie through revolutionary action. In this way, Marxism is believed by its supporters to provide a scientific explanation for why socialism should, and will, replace capitalism in human society. Leninism refers to the theories put forward by Russian revolutionary, political theorist and politician Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party who was a leading figure in the October Revolution that overthrew the Russian capitalist government and replaced it with a socialist alternative in 1917. Taking Marxism as its basis, Leninism revolves around putting forward ideas for how to convert a capitalist state into a socialist one. Castro used Leninist thought as a model upon which to convert the Cuban state and society into a socialist form.
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Hugo Rafael Chavez Frías is the 61st and President of Venezuela and the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Following his own political ideology of "Socialism for the 21st Century", he has focused on implementing socialist reforms in the country as a part of a social project which has seen the implementation of a new constitution, participatory democratic councils and the nationalisation of several key industries. After the Democratic Action government of President Carlos Andrés Pérez ordered the violent repression of protests against spending cuts, Chávez led the MBR-200 in an unsuccessful coup d'état against the government in 1992, for which he was imprisoned. Getting out of prison after two years, he founded a social democratic political party, the Fifth Republic Movement, and was elected president of Venezuela in 1998. He subsequently introduced a new constitution which increased rights for marginalised groups and altered the structure of Venezuelan government, and was re-elected in 2000. He introduced a system of Bolivarian Missions, Communal Councils and worker-managed cooperatives, as well as a program of land reform, whilst also nationalising various key industries. He openly proclaimed his adherence to socialism, and was again elected into power in 2006, following which he founded his new political party, the PSUV, in 2007. A selfprofessed anti-imperialist and vocal critic of neoliberalism and capitalism more generally, Chávez has been a prominent opponent of the United States' foreign policy. Allying himself strongly with the socialist governments of Fidel and then Raúl Castro in Cuba, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, his presidency is seen as a part of the leftist "pink tide" sweeping Latin America. He has supported Latin American and Caribbean cooperation and was instrumental in setting up the pan-regional Union of South American Nations, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, the Bank of the South, and the regional television network TeleSur. In contrast to military presidents like Torrijos and Velasco however, Chávez became highly critical of Augusto Pinochet, the right-wing general who had recently seized control in Chile with the aid of the American CIA. Chávez immediately set into motion a social welfare program called Plan Bolívar 2000, Plan Bolívar 2000 involved 70,000 army officers going out into the streets of Venezuela where they would repair roads and hospitals, offer free medical care and vaccinations, and sell food
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
at cheap prices. Chávez himself described the Plan by saying that "Ten years ago we came to massacre the people. Now we are going to fill them with love. Go and comb the land, search out and destroy poverty and death. We are going to fill them with love instead of lead. In his television and radio shows, he answered calls from citizens, discussed his latest policies, sung songs and told jokes, making it unique not only in Latin America but the entire world. Chávez announced that his government would nationalize Venezuela's gold industry, taking it over from Russian-controlled company Rusoro, whilst at the same time also moving the country's gold stocks, which were largely stored in western banks, to banks in Venezuela's political allies like Russia, China and Brazil. Hugo Chávez defines his political position as Bolivarianism, an ideology developed by himself which is heavily influenced by the writings of Simón Bolívar, a 19th-century general who led the fight against the imperialist Spanish authorities, and who is widely revered across Latin America today. Along with Bolívar, the other two primary influences upon Bolivarianism are Simón Rodríguez (1769–1854), a philosopher who was Bolívar's tutor and mentor, and Ezequiel Zamora, (1817–1860), the Venezuelan Federalist general. Bolivarianism can be summarized as: an emphasis on the importance of education, the creation of civilian-military unity, Latin American integration, social justice, and national sovereignty. Chávez's political position has progressed further left, rejecting capitalist leftist ideologies like social democracy or the Third Way and instead embracing socialism. He has propagated what he calls "socialism for the 21st century", but according to Gregory Wilpert, "Chávez has not clearly defined twenty-first century socialism, other than to say that it is about establishing liberty, equality, social justice, and solidarity. He has also indicated that it is distinctly different from state socialism", as implemented by the governments of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. As a part of his socialist ideas, he has emphasised the role of participatory democracy, which he has implemented through the foundation of the Venezuelan Communal Councils and Bolivarian Circles which he cites as examples of grassroots and participatory democracy. Democracy is impossible in a capitalist system. Capitalism is the realm of injustice and a tyranny of the richest against the poorest. Rousseau said, 'Between the powerful and the weak all freedom is oppressed. Only the rule of law sets you free.' That's why the only way to save the world is through socialism, a democratic socialism... [Democracy is not just turning up to vote every five or four years], it's much more than that, it's a way of life, it's giving power to the people ... it is not the government of the rich over the people, which is what's happening in almost all the so-called democratic Western capitalist countries. Hugo Chávez, June 2010. Since 2003, Chavez has been setting strict price controls on food "seeking to curb the region‘s highest inflation rate by stamping down on what he terms price ―speculation.‖ and these price controls have been causing shortages and hoarding. In January 2008, Chavez ordered the military to seize 750 tons of food that sellers were illegally trying to smuggle across the border to sell for higher prices than what was legal
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Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The savior needs to stand on shoulders Idi Amin Dada a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979 who ran a state without corruption, and with highest economic growth since independence in Uganda. He deposed Milton Obote, who was though not corrupt, had a very corrupt army. Amin shifted in allegiance from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable Israeli support to being later backed by Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi as well as the Soviet Union and East Germany. In 1977, after the last two British diplomats withdrew from Uganda, Amin declared he had beaten the British and added "CBE", for "Conqueror of the British Empire", to his title. Radio Uganda then announced his entire title: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Alhaji Dr. Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE". In 1959 Amin was made Afande (warrant officer), the highest rank possible for a Black African in the colonial British Army of that time. Amin returned to Uganda the same year and in 1961 he was promoted to lieutenant, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers. Amin was an active athlete during his time in both the British and Ugandan army. he was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion, as well as a swimmer. Idi Amin was also a formidable rugby forward. Amin gave former king and president Mutesa (who had died in exile) a state burial in April 1971, freed many political prisoners. He informed the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers that they would be subject to military discipline. In August 1972, Amin declared what he called an "economic war", a set of policies that included the expropriation of properties
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in Venezuela. In February 2009, Chavez ordered the military to temporarily seize control of all the rice processing plants in the country and force them to produce at full capacity, which he claimed they had been avoiding in response to the price caps. Chavez set minimum production quotas for 12 basic foods that were subject to price controls, including white rice, cooking oil, coffee, sugar, powdered milk, cheese, and tomato sauce. Business leaders and food producers claimed that the government was forcing them to produce this food at a loss. Chávez has nationalized many large farms. Chávez said of the farmland, "The land is not private. It is the property of the state. Chávez has refocused Venezuelan foreign policy on Latin American economic and social integration by enacting bilateral trade and reciprocal aid agreements, including his so-called "oil diplomacy". Chávez stated that Venezuela has "a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage ... It is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world, the United States‘.
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The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the leader of Ghana an influential 20th century advocate of Pan-Africanism, he was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963m, who ceded the sovereignty of Ghana to the OAU. Nkrumah, who stated that Africa must be untied, as a continent, as a nation, or else, the united blocks like America, Europe, etc, would come for the kill .he advised for an overall economic planning on a continental basis which would increase the industrial and economic power of Africa. So long as we remain disunited, so long as we remain balkanized, regionally or territorially, we shall be at the mercy of colonialism and imperialism. If we in Africa set up a common economic planning and organisation and a joint military command, it follows that we shall have to adopt a common foreign policy to give political direction to our national continental defence and our national continental economic and industrial development planning.‘ He helped organize the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, England. Then he founded the West African National Secretariat to work for the decolonization of Africa. He invited women to participate in the political process at a time when women's suffrage was new to Africa. The trade unions also allied with his movement. By 1949, he organized these groups into a new political party: The Convention People's Party. When the colonial administration rejected the People's Assembly's recommendations, Nkrumah organized a "Positive Action" campaign in January 1950, including civil disobedience, non-cooperation, boycotts, and strikes. The colonial administration arrested Nkrumah and many CPP supporters, and he was sentenced to three years in prison. Nkrumah taught that party's ideology is religion, and should be practiced faithfully and fervently. The
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owned by Asians and Europeans who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, except for professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers. The same year, as part of his "economic war", Amin broke diplomatic ties with Britain and nationalised 85 British-owned businesses. Idi Amin condoned no below standard work, who in his special way, wanted his own people to own production methods.
Gold Coast had been among the wealthiest and most socially advanced areas in Africa, with schools, railways, hospitals, social security and an advanced economy. Under Nkrumah‘s leadership, Ghana adopted some socialist policies and practices. Nkrumah created a welfare system, started various community programs, and established schools. He generally took a nonaligned Marxist perspective on economics, and believed capitalism had malignant effects that were going to stay with Africa for a long time. Nkrumah argued that socialism was the system that would best accommodate the changes that capitalism had brought, while still respecting African values. He specifically addresses these issues and his politics in a 1967 essay entitled "African Socialism Revisited": Nkrumah's nonalignment quote: "We face neither East nor West; we face forward‖. He said that the traditional African society was founded on principles of egalitarianism. We postulate each man to be an end in himself, not merely a means; and we accept the necessity of guaranteeing each man equal opportunities for his development. The implications of this for sociopolitical practice have to be worked out scientifically, and the necessary social and economic policies pursued with resolution. Any meaningful humanism must begin from egalitarianism and must lead to objectively chosen policies for safeguarding and sustaining egalitarianism. Hence, socialism. In Africa Must Unite (1963) Nkrumah called for the immediate formation of a pan-African government. Later he sat on a unification movement that emanates from the base, while anti-imperialist governments and between the Western-backed "puppet regime" could be no common ground. Nkrumah attempted to rapidly industrialize Ghana's economy. He reasoned that if Ghana escaped the colonial trade system by reducing dependence on foreign capital, technology, and material goods, it could become truly independent. However, the CIA did not like his closeness with China and USSR and hence decided to instill riotuis spirit amongst trade unionists, and finally, overthrew him in a military coup, when he was visiting china and Vietnam. Nkrumah's advocacy of industrial development, led to the construction of a hydroelectric power plant, the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River in eastern Ghana. Nkrumah wanted Ghana to have modern armed forces, so he acquired aircraft and ships, and introduced conscription. He also gave military support to anti-British Empire backed government guerrillas in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In February 1966, while Nkrumah was on a state visit to North Vietnam and China, his government was overthrown in a military coup which received support from the CIA.
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The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, the major political and spiritual leader of India who led the country in the non-cooperation movement in 1922 and Salt march in 1930 and later in Quit India movement in 1942 during its struggle for independence. Known as Beloved Baapu in India, Mahatma Gandhi adopted the policy of mass disobedience and non-violent resistance as weapons against the British Rule in India and followed a principle of Ahimsa (total Non-Violence). He endured several hardships, was arrested and occasionally beaten in his journey and struggle to Justice and Freedom. However, his struggle does not restrict to India itself, as the leader played a key role in the Civil Rights movement in South Africa and secured them the right to justice and equality. His birthday 2 October is commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday and as the International Non-Violence day across the world. Gandhi himself experienced the humiliation and disgrace while in South Africa. Initially he was thrown off a train for refusing to travel in a third class coach while holding a first class ticket. Other similar events including being barred from many hotels in South Africa moved him and encouraged him to work for Indian people there. As a result he extended his original period of stay to protest a bill passed by the South African government to deny them the right to vote. His methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to truth) was adopted by thousands of his followers and during the seven-year long struggle; thousands of Indians were jailed (including Gandhi), beaten and punished for striking and refusing to register. Though the government successfully repressed the protest through its harsh methods, the impact of this protest forced the government to initiate for a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi‘s idea of non-violence and truth developed during this period. His people, the peasants were forced to grow cash crops instead of food crops necessary for their survival, and this led to a situation of famine there. To end that devastating famine and poverty Gandhi organized detailed survey and study, based upon which he began leading the cleaning of the villages, building of schools and hospitals, encouraging villagers to condemn and combat many social evils including pardah and untouchability. Gandhi organized protests and strikes against the landlords that resulted in to the cancellation of the revenue hikes and collection of taxes until the famine ended. In 1930, Gandhi launched a new Satyagraha protesting the tax on salt. He marched from Ahmadabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt himself. Thousands of Indian people joined him in this
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The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country. He launched a gas rationing plan in 2007 to reduce the country's fuel consumption, and cut the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge. He supports Iran's nuclear energy program. He is a "simple man" that leads a "modest" life. As president, he wanted to continue living in the same house in Tehran his family had been living in, until his security advisers insisted that he move. Ahmadinejad had the antique Persian carpets in the Presidential palace sent to a carpet museum, and opted instead to use inexpensive carpets. He refused the V.I.P. seat on the Presidential plane, and that he eventually replaced it with a cargo plane instead.
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400km march which was marked as his most successful campaign against the British hold. In 1932, the government granted untouchables separate electorates under the new constitution. Gandhi started a new campaign to improve the lives of untouchables, whom he called Harijan, the children of God. Equality and justice for Untouchables became his prime goal and it was a result of Gandhi‘s constant effort that in September 1932 the government agreed to adopt a more unbiased and fair arrangement via negotiation. During World War II in 1939, Gandhi opposed the inclusion of India in the war stating that India can not be a part of the war being fought for the democratic freedom, while freedom was denied to India itself. Gandhi and other Congressmen intensified their movement for a complete freedom demanding the British to ‗Quit India‘. It was the most vigorous movement in the history of Indian Independence struggle in which thousands of freedom fighters were killed, imprisoned and injured and violent clashes broke in every part of India. The demand this time was a complete freedom and immediate exit of the British from India. Though Gandhi appealed to maintain discipline, he made it clear that even violent act wouldn‘t stop their movement this time, as it was a time to Do or Die. Gandhi and the committee of congress were arrested on 9 August 1942, and Gandhi was held in Aga Khan Palace for 2 years. During that period his wife Kasturba Gandhi died after 18 months of prison on 22 February 1944. At the end of the world war, Gandhi called off his struggle. Time had come to see an Independent India.
Also upon gaining Iran's presidency, Ahmadinejad held his first cabinet meeting in the Imam Reza shrine at Mashhad, an act perceived as "pious". He honoured the dead patriots and suggested that people killed in the Iran–Iraq War be buried in major city squares of Tehran. He also worked to improve the traffic system and put an emphasis on charity, such as distributing free soup to the poor. One of his goals was "putting the petroleum income on people's tables", meaning Iran's oil profits would be distributed among the poor. Ahmadinejad was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against future relations with the United States. He told Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting the United Nations was "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam." He opposed the veto power of the UN Security Council's five permanent members: "It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. Should such a privilege continue to exist, the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion should be extended the same privilege." He defended Iran's nuclear program and accused "a few arrogant powers" of trying to limit Iran's industrial and technological development in this and other fields. In Ahmadinejad's first four years as president, Iran's real GDP reflected growth of the economy. Inflation and unemployment have also decreased under Ahmadinejad due to better economic management and ending the unsustainable spending and borrowing patterns of previous administrations. Ahmadinejad has increased spending by 25 percent and has supported subsidies for food and petrol. He also initially refused a gradual increase of petrol prices, saying that after making necessary preparations, such as a development of public transportation system, the government will free up petrol prices after five years. Interest rates were cut by presidential decree to below the inflation rate. Ahmadinejad has called for "middle-of-the-road" compromises with respect to Western-oriented capitalism and socialism.
The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Mao Zedong was the leader of the Communist Party of China who showed it the way to victory against the 'Kuomintang' in the Civil war of China. Appointed as the first chairman of the communist party of China, Mao took the helm to revive its stagnating economy and culture and extended his contribution by normalizing its relations with world's super powers. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976 during which he laid the foundation for powerful nation through his effective reforms and many socio-
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cultural programs. However, his many social-cultural programs such as "Great Leap Forward" are criticized by critics from within China and outside for ruining the heritage, culture and agriculture of China, Mao Zedong is regarded as the one of the most important figures of the modern World History. In China he is portrayed as a great revolutionary and strategist who transformed the country into a major power through his policies. Mao Zedong was from a peasant family, and he believed that problems of China could be studied and resolved only within China. Mao was first introduced to communism while working at Peking University and in 1921; he co-founded the Communist Party of China (CPC). He sought to sabotage the alliance of imperialism and feudalism in China. Throughout the 1920‘s he led several laborer struggles with limited success. After initial failures, he planed to embark on violent revolutions, realizing the fact that unarmed labor struggles could not resolve the problems of imperial and feudal suppression. In 1927, Mao conducted the famous Autumn Harvest Uprising in Changsha, Hunan, as commander-in-chief. After the defeat of his ‗Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants‘ he created Workers‘ and peasants Red Army of China (Red Army) in Jinggang, Jiangxi. The People‘s Republic of China was established on 1 October 1949 ending the almost two decade‘s long civil and International war. Mao became chairman of the PRC in 1954 remained till 1959. Mao launched the first Five-Years Plan in 1953 that aimed to end the Chinese dependence on agriculture to become a world power. New industrial plants were built and agricultural industries began to produce enough capital that China no longer needed any outside support. The success of first Five-Year Plan encouraged Mao to initiate the Second Five-year Plan, ‗The Great Leap Forward‘ in 1958. During the Second Five-Year plan, efforts were made to increase the rate of literacy and to control price. For equal distribution of land and power, land were taken from rich land owners and given to poor farmers. Apart from these campaigns, large scale industrialization projects were also taken. Programs pursued during his leadership include ‗Hundred flowers campaign‘ in which Mao invited suggestions and opinions from party members about how China should be governed. Given the freedom of expression intellectual and liberal Chinese started questioning its leadership and opposing Communist party. The Second Five-Year Plan, also known as ‗The Great Leap Forward‘ focusing on heavy industries for economic growth was launched next. Under this plan relatively small agricultural collectives were merged into far larger people‘s communes. Peasants were ordered to work on massive infrastructure projects and all private food production was banned
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The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Emperor Menelik II who defeated the Italian and made Ethiopia an independent state in Africa. Menelik II is an African icon and one of the most powerful black people in history. Upon the treaty with Italy, Emperor Menelik II in 1889 stated, the territories north of the Merab Melash [modern Eritrea] do not belong to nor are under my rule. I am the Emperor of Abysinnia. The lands referred to as Eritrea is not peopled by Abysinnians, they are Adals, Bejas, and Tigres. Abysinnia will defend her territories but it will not fight for foreign lands of which Eritrea is to my knowledge.he id not have colonialist tendencies. He was a fair man. Menelik II can be named as father for modern Ethiopia. He was a russophile because he thought only Russia could be the main ally of his policy of integration of Ethiopia by reason of necessity to counteract the British colonial expansion and sabotage against integration. He directed his efforts thenceforth to the consolidation of his authority, and in a certain degree, to the opening up of his country to western civilization. Menelek focused much of his energy on development and modernization of his country after this threat to his throne was firmly ended. He had granted in 1894 a concession for the building of a railway to his capital from the French port of Djibouti but, alarmed by a claim made by France in 1902 to the control of the line in Ethiopian territory, he stopped for four years the extension of the railway beyond Dire Dawa. When in 1906 France, the United Kingdom and Italy came to an agreement on the subject, granting control to a joint venture corporation, Menelek officially reiterated his full sovereign rights over the whole of his empire. Menelik II was fascinated by modernity, and like Tewodros II before him, had a keen ambition to introduce Western technological and administrative advances into Ethiopia. Menelik II founded the first modern bank in Ethiopia, the Bank of Abyssinia, introduced the first modern postal system, signed the agreement and initiated work that established the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway with the French, introduced electricity to Addis Ababa, as well as the telephone, telegraph, the motor car and modern plumbing. During a particularly devastating famine caused by Rinderpest early in his reign, Menelik personally went out with a hand-held hoe to furrow the fields to show that there was no shame in plowing fields by hand without oxen, something Ethiopian highlanders had been too proud to consider previously. He also forgave taxes during this particularly severe famine. Later in his reign, Menelik established the
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The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011. Gaddafi seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1969 and served as the country's head of state until 1977, when he stepped down from his official executive role as Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya, and claimed subsequently to be merely a symbolic figurehead. In 2011, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya state he established was overthrown in a rebellion which consisted of an uprising aided by a NATO intervention. After seizing power in 1969, he established laws based on the political ideology he had formulated, called the Third International Theory and published in The Green Book. After establishing the jamahiriya ("state of the masses") system in 1977, he officially stepped down from power. Rising oil prices and extraction in Libya led to increasing revenues. By exporting as much oil per capita as Saudi Arabia and through various welfare programs, Libya achieved the highest living standards in Africa. Libya remained debt-free. In the 1980s, he acquired chemical weapons, leading to the United Nations calling Libya under Gaddafi a pariah state and countries around the world imposing sanctions. Six days after the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003 by the United States Gaddafi renounced Tripoli's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs and welcomed international inspections to verify that he would follow through on the commitment. A leading advocate for a United States of Africa, he served as Chairperson of the African Union (AU) from 2
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first Cabinet of Ministers to help in the administration of the Empire, appointing trusted and widely respected nobles and retainers to the first Ministries. Menelik II is credited for establishing modern Ethiopia as well as leading the first African military victory over a Western power during Europe's scramble for Africa. His triumph put Ethiopia in the spotlight among black people in the Americas, inspired other Africans fighting European colonialists, and led the way to Haile Selassie I's fame among the oppressed people in the West.
February 2009 to 31 January 2010, and funded its budget generously. Although often referred to as "Colonel Gaddafi", he was in fact only a Lieutenant when he seized power in 1969. On gaining power he immediately ordered the shutdown of American and British military bases, including Wheelus Air Base. He told Western officials that he would expel their companies from Libya's oil fields unless they shared more revenue. In his warning, he alluded to consultation with Nasser. The oil companies complied with the demand, increasing Libya's share from 50 to 79 percent. In December 1969, Egyptian intelligence thwarted a planned coup against Gaddafi from high-ranking members of his leadership. Gaddafi expelled Italian settlers in Libya in 1970. In the Green Book (an allusion to Mao Zedong‘s Little Red Book), he denounced capitalism and communism as variations on "slavery" and spurned all political parties as forms of "dictatorship". In the manifesto, he advocated direct rule by People‘s Committees. Gaddafi remained the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the effective head of state. The people ruled themselves through local popular councils and communes, named Basic People's Congresses, where all adult Libyans were allowed to participate and vote on national decisions. These people's congresses were, in principle, the country's highest authority, with major decisions proposed by government officials or Gaddafi himself requiring the consent of the people's congresses. Libya enjoys large natural resources, which Gaddafi utilized to help develop the country. Under Gaddafi's Jamahiriya "direct democracy" state, the country's literacy rate rose from 10% to 90%, life expectancy rose from 57 to 77 years, equal rights were established for women and black people, employment opportunities were established for migrant workers, and welfare systems were introduced that allowed access to free education, free healthcare, and financial assistance for housing. In addition, financial support was provided for university scholarships and employment programs. Gaddafi also initiated development of the Great Manmade River, in order to allow free access to fresh water across large parts of the country. The country was developed without taking any foreign loans, and, as a result, Libya was debt-free. The Economy of Libya was centrally planned and followed Gaddafi's socialist ideals. It benefited greatly from revenues from the petroleum sector, which contributed most export earnings and 30% of its GDP. These oil revenues, combined with a small population and by far Africa's highest Education Index gave Libya the highest nominal GDP per capita in Africa. Between 2000 and 2011, Libya recorded favourable growth rates with an estimated 10.6 percent growth of GDP in 2010, the highest of any state in Africa. Gaddafi had promised "a home for all Libyans" and during his rule, new residential areas rose in empty Saharan regions. Entire populations living in mud-brick caravan towns were moved into modern homes with running water, electricity, and satellite TV. Gaddafi granted financial support and
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‗Development goes to infrastructure, not the other way round‘ Unlike the current NTC in Luhya, or unlike the post eminence African leaders like Mobutu, should the countries to intuitions like IMF, WORLD BANK, etc, which are owned by international busi9nessmen.
The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an
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military training to Palestinian militant groups against Israel. From the beginning of his leadership, Gaddafi confronted foreign oil companies for increases in revenues. Immediately after assuming office, he demanded that oil companies pay 10 percent more taxes and an increased royalty. Gaddafi argued that Libyan oil was closer to Europe, and was cheaper to ship than oil from the Persian Gulf. Libya continued a winning streak against the oil companies throughout the 1970s energy crisis; later that year, the Shah of Iran raised his demands to match those of Gaddafi. OPEC nations began a game of "leap frogging" to win further concessions from the oil companies after following Gaddafi's lead. The United States, and not rebels, bombed Ghadhafi, together with the French, and hence left him for dead to be executed by the rebels. In 1986, the United States bombed Libya, including Gaddafi's family compound in the vast Bab al-Azizia Barracks in southern Tripoli. The U.S. Government consistently said that the bombings were "surgical strikes" and were not intended to kill Gaddafi. On 15 April, Gaddafi and his family fled his compound in the Bab al-Azizia Barracks moments before it was bombed. He received a phone call the night of 15 April, warning him about an attack. In 1993, over 2,000 Libyan soldiers plotted to assassinate Gaddafi. In February 1996, Islamic extremists attacked Gaddafi's motorcade near the city of Sirte, Britain's Secret Intelligence Service was involved. On the shoulders of Ghadhafi, he who kicked our the king, RESPECTFULLY, and took over a country where he gave his people water, food, electricity and gas, and infrastructure, and when he said,
anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. As president, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa. He led prominently in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, whose adoption of the Freedom Charter provided the fundamental basis of the anti-apartheid cause. During this time, Mandela and fellow lawyer Oliver Tambo operated the law firm of Mandela and Tambo, providing free or low-cost legal counsel too many blacks who lacked attorney representation. In 1961 Mandela became leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (translated Spear of the Nation, and also abbreviated MK), which he co-founded. He coordinated sabotage campaigns against military and government targets, making plans for a possible guerrilla war if the sabotage failed to end apartheid. Mandela also raised funds for MK abroad and arranged for paramilitary training of the group. As President from May 1994 until June 1999, Mandela presided over the transition from minority rule and apartheid, winning international respect for his advocacy of national and international reconciliation. During the course of his presidency, a wide range of progressive social reforms were enacted by Mandela's government, aimed at reducing long entrenched social and economic inequalities in South Africa. Amongst the measures carried out by Mandela and his ministers included: The introduction of free health care (1994) for all children under the age of six together with pregnant and breastfeeding women making use of public sector health facilities (a provision extended to all those using primary level public sector health care services in 1996). The launching of the Reconstruction and Development Programme, which invested in essential social services such as housing and health care. Increases in welfare spending, with public spending on welfare and social grants increased by 13% in 1996/97, 13% in 1997/98, and 7% in 1998/99.‖ The introduction of parity in grants for communities which were previously, including disability grants, child maintenance grants, and old-age pensions, which had previously been set at different levels for South Africa‘s different racial groups. The extension of the application of the child maintenance grant to blacks in rural areas, who had been previously excluded from the system. A significant increase in public spending on education, with expenditure raised by 25% in 1996/97, 7% in 1997/98 and 4% in 1998/99. An expansion of reproductive health services. The Land Restitution Act of 1994, which enabled people who had lost their property as a result of the Natives Land Act, 1913 to claim back their land, leading to the settlement of tens of thousands of land claims. The Land Reform Act 3 of 1996, which safeguarded the rights of labour tenants
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who live and grow crops or graze livestock on farms. This legislation ensured that such tenants could not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of sixty-five. The introduction of child support grants (1998) to alleviate child poverty. The Skills Development Act (1998) which provided for the establishment of mechanisms to finance and promote skills development at the workplace. The Labour Relations Act (1995), which promoted workplace democracy, orderly collective bargaining, and the effective resolution of labour disputes. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (1997), which improved enforcement mechanisms while extending an improved ―floor‖ of rights to all workers. The passage of the Employment Equity Act (1998) to put an end to unfair discrimination and ensure the implementation of affirmative action in the workplace. The connection of 3 million people to telephone lines. The bringing of 1.5 million children into the education system. The upgrading or construction of 500 clinics. The connection of 2 million people to the electricity grid. The construction of 750,000 houses, housing nearly 3 million people in the process. The extension of water access to 3 million people. The introduction of compulsory schooling for African children between six and fourteen years. The provision of free meals for between 3.5 to 5 million school children. The passage of the 1996 Mine Health and Safety Act (amended in 1997) to improve health and safety conditions for miners. The Welfare Laws Amendment Act (1997), which amended the Social Assistance Act of 1992 to provide for equality of access, uniformity and effective regulation of social assistance throughout South Africa, amongst other changes. The establishment of a National Development Agency (1998), which was mandated to provide funds to civil society organizations to meet the developmental needs of poor communities, amongst other functions. Amendments to the Insolvency Act in 1998 which aimed to ensure that in bankruptcy cases preference would be given to workers ―to ensure that monies owed to them takes precedence over the claims of other creditors.‖ He decided not to stand for a second term and retired in 1999, to be succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. The savoir must stand on the shoulders of nelson Madiba rolinhalla Mandela, so that he can learn how o forgive his detractors, and also learn how to live power, after acquiring it, a great challenge to people of black skin, exemplified by Museveni of Uganda, (27 years in power), Gabon, etc.
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The savior needs to stand on shoulders of Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only twelve weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis. He was subsequently imprisoned and executed by firing squad, an act that was committed with the assistance of the governments of Belgium and the United States, for which the Belgian government officially apologized in 2002. After traveling on a three-week study tour in Belgium, he was arrested in 1955 on charges of embezzlement of post office funds. He helped found the broad-based Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) in 1958, later becoming the organization's president. Lumumba and his team represented the MNC at the All-African Peoples' Conference in Accra, Ghana, in December 1958. At this international conference, hosted by influential Pan-African President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Lumumba further solidified his Pan-Africanist beliefs. In late October 1959, Lumumba as leader of the MNC was again arrested for allegedly inciting an anti-colonial riot in Stanleyville where thirty people were killed, for which he was sentenced to six months in prison. The trial's start date of 18 January 1960, was also the first day of a round-table conference in Brussels to finalize the future of the Congo. Despite Lumumba's imprisonment at the time, the MNC won a convincing majority in the December local elections in the Congo. As a result of pressure from delegates who were enraged at Lumumba's imprisonment, he was released and allowed to attend the Brussels conference. Lumumba delivered his famous independence speech after being officially excluded from the event programme, despite being the new prime minister Lumumba responded by reminding the audience that the independence of the Congo was not granted magnanimously by Belgium: ‗For this independence of the Congo, even as it is celebrated today with Belgium, a friendly country with whom we deal as equal to equal, no Congolese worthy of the name will ever be able to forget that it was by fighting that it has been won, a day-to-day fight, an ardent and idealistic fight, a fight in which we were spared neither privation nor suffering, and for which we gave our strength and our blood. We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire, and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force.
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Nous ne sommes plus vos macaques! (We are no longer your monkeys!)‘ Referring to a common slur used against Africans by Belgians. A few days after Congo gained its independence, Lumumba made the fateful decision to raise the pay of all government employees except for the army. The country seemed to be overrun by gangs of soldiers and looters, causing a media sensation, particularly over Europeans fleeing the country. The province of Katanga declared independence under regional premier Moïse Tshombe on 11 July 1960 with support from the Belgian government and mining companies such as Union Minière. United Nations refused to help suppress the rebellion in Katanga; Lumumba sought Soviet aid in the form of arms, food, medical supplies, trucks, and planes to help move troops to Katanga Dead, living, free, or in prison on the orders of the colonialists, it is not I who counts. It is the Congo, it is our people for whom independence has been transformed into a cage where we are regarded from the outside… History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington, or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets... a history of glory and dignity.
”
— Patrice Lumumba, October 1960 On 14 September, a coup d‘état organised by Colonel Joseph Mobutu incapacitated both Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu. Lumumba was placed under house arrest at the prime minister's residence, although UN troops were positioned around the house to protect him. He desperately appealed to local UN troops to save him, but he was no longer their responsibility. Mobutu said Lumumba would be tried for inciting the army to rebellion and other crimes. The USSR denounced Hammarskjöld and the Western powers as responsible for Lumumba's arrest and demanded his release. The UN Security Council was called into session on 7 December 1960 to consider Soviet demands that the UN seek Lumumba's immediate release, the immediate restoration of Lumumba as head of the Congo government, the disarming of the forces of Mobutu, and the immediate evacuation of Belgians from the Congo. Lumumba was driven to an isolated spot where three firing squads had been assembled. Lumumba and two other comrades from the government, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, were lined up against a tree and shot one at a time. Lumumba's body was cut up and dissolved in acid by two Belgians, so as not to leave a martyr's grave. "Lumumba‘s pan-Africanism and his vision of a united Congo gained him many
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“
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The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Ṣalāḥ adDīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, who led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Hejaz, and Yemen. Under his personal leadership, his forces defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, leading the way to his re-capture of Palestine, which had been seized from the Fatimid Egyptians by the Crusaders 88 years earlier. Rather than becoming a hated figure in Europe, he became a celebrated example of the principles of chivalry. About education, Saladin wrote "children are brought up in the way in which their elders were brought up." Of his prowess, it is written that once there were two armies in a coalition, and on hearing of his coming, "They advanced like men, like women they vanished." Saladin had captured almost every Crusader city. Upon the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin summoned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the city. It is equally true that his generosity, his piety, devoid of fanaticism, that flower of liberality and courtesy which had been the model of our old chroniclers, won him no less popularity in Frankish Syria than in the lands of Islam. Saladin's relationship
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enemies. Both Belgium and the United States actively sought to have him killed. The CIA ordered his assassination but could not complete the job. Instead, the United States and Belgium covertly funneled cash and aid to rival politicians who seized power and arrested Lumumba." U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had said "something to the effect that Lumumba should be eliminated". Lumumba was an altruistic man of strong character who pursued his policies regardless of opposing viewpoints. He favoured a unitary Congo and opposed division of the country along ethnic or regional lines. Like many other African leaders, he supported pan-Africanism and liberation for colonial territories. He proclaimed his regime one of "positive neutralism," defined as a return to African values and rejection of any imported ideology, including that of the Soviet Union: "We are not Communists, Catholics, Socialists. We are African nationalists."
with Richard was one of chivalrous mutual respect as well as military rivalry. When Richard lost his horse, Saladin sent him two replacements. Richard proposed that his sister, Joan of England, Queen of Sicily, should marry Saladin's brother and that Jerusalem could be their wedding gift. As leaders of their respective factions, the two men came to an agreement in the Treaty of Ramla in 1192, whereby Jerusalem would remain in Muslim hands but would be open to Christian pilgrimages. Saladin died of a fever on March 4, 1193, at Damascus, not long after Richard's departure. In Saladin‘s possession at the time of his death were 1 piece of gold and 47 pieces of silver. He had given away his great wealth to his poor subjects and there was none left to pay for his funeral. Seven centuries later, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany donated a new marble sarcophagus to the mausoleum. Saladin was, however, not placed in it. Instead the mausoleum, which is open to visitors, now has two sarcophagi: the empty one made of marble and the original wooden one, which holds Saladin. He was a hero of the struggle against the West. His fierce struggle against the crusaders was where Saladin achieved a great reputation in Europe as a chivalrous knight, so much so that there existed by the fourteenth century an epic poem about his exploits. Saladin granted amnesty and free passage to all common Catholics and even to the defeated Christian army, as long as they were able to pay the aforementioned ransom (the Greek Orthodox Christians were treated even better, because they often opposed the western Crusaders). Notwithstanding the differences in beliefs, the Muslim Saladin was respected by Christian lords, Richard especially. Richard once praised Saladin as a great prince, saying that he was without doubt the greatest and most powerful leader in the Islamic world. Saladin in turn stated that there was not a more honorable Christian lord than Richard. After the treaty, Saladin and Richard sent each other many gifts as tokens of respect, but never met face to face. The savior musts tan don the shoulders of salahadin, to fight this enemies with fear for, and using rules of the game, giving water to the crusaders he ha defeated, and allowing food supplies to Jerusalem whenever he concurred it, not like the Americans, the Britons and France who commit crimes against humanity in Iraq, Libya and geautemano prison.
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The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Samora Moisés Machel a Mozambican military commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventual President of Mozambique. Machel led the country from independence in 1975 until his death in 1986, when his presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain where the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa converge. He worked at the hospital until he left the country to join the Mozambican nationalist struggle in neighbouring Tanzania. Machel told a reporter how bad medical treatment was for Mozambique's poor: "The rich man's dog gets more in the way of vaccination, medicine and medical care than do the workers upon whom the rich man's wealth is built." Machel joined the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) which was dedicated to creating an independent Mozambique. He left his first wife and four children behind. He received military training in 1963 elsewhere in Africa, and returned in 1964 to lead FRELIMO's first guerilla attack against the Portuguese in northern Mozambique. By 1969, Machel had become commander-in-chief of the FRELIMO army which had already established itself among Mozambique's peasantry. His most important goal, he said, was to get the people "to understand how to turn the armed struggle into a revolution" and to realize how essential it was "to create a new mentality to build a new society". Following Portugal's coup of 25 April 1974, the left-wing military regime that replaced the 48-year old Portuguese dictatorship soon decided to grant independence to the five territories administered by Portugal in Africa (Cabo Verde, Overseas Province of Guinea, São Tomé e Príncipe, Overseas Province of Angola and Overseas Province of Mozambique). When Machel's unelected revolutionary government took over, he became independent Mozambique's first unelected president on June 25, 1975. Machel quickly put his Marxist principles into practice by calling for the nationalization of Portuguese plantations and property, and proposing the FRELIMO government establish schools and health clinics for the peasants. A land reform was imposed, gathering peasants in aldeias comunais (communal villages) in accordance with the kolkhoz and sovkhoz model. For this purpose, the new Mozambican regime did not hesitate to use the old aldeamentos, or strategic hamlets, in which the Portuguese Army had tried to confine the rural population in order to remove it from FRELIMO's
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The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Sir Seretse Khama a statesman from Botswana. He founded the Botswana Democratic Party in 1962 and became Prime Minister in 1965. In 1966, Botswana gained independence and Khama became its first president. During his presidency, the country underwent rapid economic and social progress. At the time of its independence, Botswana was among the world‘s poorest countries, even poorer than most other African countries. Khama set out on a vigorous economic programme intended to
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influence in the war-ridden areas of the North (paradoxically, FRELIMO itself then denounced such aldeamentos as "concentration camps"). As an internationalist, Machel allowed revolutionaries fighting white minority regimes in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa to train and operate within Mozambique. Machel remained popular throughout his presidency. On October 19, 1986 Samora Machel was on his way back from an international meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, in the presidential Tupolev Tu134 aircraft, when the plane crashed in the Lebombo Mountains, near Mbuzini, South-Africa. There were ten survivors, but President Machel and thirty-three others died, including ministers and officials of the Mozambique government. Machel's widow, Graça (née Simbine), is convinced the aircrash was not an accident and has dedicated her life to tracking down her husband's alleged killers. In July 1998, Mrs Machel married the then South African President Nelson Mandela. She thus became unique in having been the first lady of two different countries, Mozambique and South Africa. The savoir must stand on the shoulders of Samora Machel, the politicians who wanted, promised, and delivered the best of Egypt, and not like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington or marshal, because they declared the country was free for all, but heckled blacks in slavery for so long., double edged standard and sword is not allowed. He hsould not be like Abraham Lincoln, who freed, the slaves, not because he wanted to, but because he wanted to protect the union, because the needed their service in the military.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara who was a Burkinabé military captain, Marxist revolutionary, Pan-Africanist theorist, and President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. Viewed as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution, he is commonly referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara." Sankara seized power in a 1983 popularly supported coup at the age of 33, with the goal of eliminating corruption and the dominance of the former French colonial power. He immediately launched the most ambitious program for social and economic change ever attempted on the African continent. To symbolize this new autonomy and rebirth, he even renamed the country from the French colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso ("Land of Upright Men"). His foreign policies were centered around antiimperialism, with his government eschewing all foreign aid, pushing for odious debt reduction, nationalizing all land and mineral wealth, and averting the power and influence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. His domestic policies were focused on preventing famine with agrarian self-
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transform it into an export-based economy, built around beef, copper and diamonds. The 1967 discovery of Orapa‘s diamond deposits aided this programme. However, other African countries have had abundant resources and still proved poor. Between 1966 and 1980 Botswana had the fastest growing economy in the world. Much of this money was reinvested into infrastructure, health, and education costs, resulting in further economic development. Khama also instituted strong measures against corruption, the bane of so many other newly-independent African nations. Unlike other countries in Africa, his administration adopted market-friendly policies to foster economic development. Khama promised low and stable taxes to mining companies, liberalized trade, and increased personal freedoms. He maintained low marginal income tax rates to deter tax evasion and corruption. He upheld liberal democracy and non-racialism in the midst of a region embroiled in civil war, racial enmity and corruption. Shortly before his death, Khama would play a major role in negotiating the end of the Rhodesian civil war and the resulting creation and independence of Zimbabwe. On a personal level, he was known for his intelligence, integrity and sense of humour. Khama remained president until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1980.
sufficiency and land reform, prioritizing education with a nation-wide literacy campaign, and promoting public health by vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles. Other components of his national agenda included planting over ten million trees to halt the growing desertification of the Sahel, doubling wheat production by redistributing land from feudal landlords to peasants, suspending rural poll taxes and domestic rents, and establishing an ambitious road and rail construction program to "tie the nation together." On the localized level Sankara also called on every village to build a medical dispensary and had over 350 communities construct schools with their own labour. Moreover, his commitment to women's rights led him to outlaw female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy; while appointing females to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant. To counter his opposition in towns and workplaces around the country, he also tried corrupt officials, counterrevolutionaries and "lazy workers" in peoples revolutionary tribunals. His revolutionary programs for African self-reliance as a defiant alternative to the neo-liberal development strategies imposed by the West made him an icon too many of Africa's poor. Sankara remained popular with most of his country's impoverished citizens. However his policies alienated and antagonized the vested interests of an array of groups, which included the small but powerful Burkinabé middle class, the tribal leaders whom he stripped of the long-held traditional right to forced labour and tribute payments, and the foreign financial interests in France and their ally the Ivory Coast. As a result, he was overthrown and assassinated in a coup d'état led by the French-backed Blaise Compaoré on October 15, 1987. A week before his execution, he declared: "While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas." “
Our revolution in Burkina Faso draws on the totality of man's experiences since the first breath of humanity. We wish to be the heirs of all the revolutions of the world, of all the liberation struggles of the peoples of the Third World. We draw the lessons of the American revolution. The French revolution taught us the rights of man. The great October revolution brought victory to the proletariat and made possible the realization of the Paris Commune's dreams of justice.
”
— Thomas Sankara, October 1984 A coup d'état organised by Blaise Compaoré made Sankara President on August 4, 1983, at the age of 33. The coup d'état was supported by Libya which was, at the time, on the verge of war with France in Chad. As President, he promoted the
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"Democratic and Popular Revolution" (Révolution démocratique et populaire, or RDP). The ideology of the Revolution was defined by Sankara as anti-imperialist. His policy was oriented toward fighting corruption, promoting reforestation, averting famine, and making education and health real priorities. “
The revolution and women‘s liberation go together. We do not talk of women‘s emancipation as an act of charity or because of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the triumph of the revolution. Women hold up the other half of the sky.
”
Improving women's status was one of Sankara's explicit goals, and his government included a large number of women, an unprecedented policy priority in West Africa. His government banned female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy; while appointing females to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant. Sankara also promoted contraception and encouraged husbands to go to market and prepare meals to experience for themselves the conditions faced by women. Furthermore, Sankara was the first African leader to appoint women to major cabinet positions and to recruit them actively for the military. Sankara's administration was also the first African government to publicly recognize the AIDS epidemic as a major threat to Africa. Accompanying his personal charisma, Sankara had an array of original initiatives that contributed to his popularity and brought some international media attention to the Burkinabé revolution: for Solidarity, he sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers. He reduced the salaries of all public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and 1st class airline tickets. He redistributed land from the feudal landlords and gave it directly to the peasants. Wheat production rose in three years from 1700 kg per hectare to 3800 kg per hectare, making the country food self-sufficient. He opposed foreign aid, saying that "he who feeds you, controls you." He spoke in forums like the Organization of African Unity against continued neo-colonialist penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance. He called for a united front of African nations to repudiate their foreign debt. He argued that the poor and exploited did not have an obligation to repay money to the rich and exploiting. In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army's provisioning store into a stateowned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country). He forced civil servants to pay one month's salary to public projects. He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not
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— Thomas Sankara
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available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes. As President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer. A motorcyclist himself, he formed an allwomen motorcycle personal guard. He required public servants to wear a traditional tunic, woven from Burkinabe cotton and sewn by Burkinabe craftsmen. He was known for jogging unaccompanied through Ouagadougou in his track suit and posing in his tailored military fatigues, with his mother-of-pearl pistol. When asked why he didn't want his portrait hung in public places, as was the norm for other African leaders, Sankara replied "There are seven million Thomas Sankaras." An accomplished guitarist, he wrote the new national anthem himself. “
Che Guevara taught us we could dare to have confidence in ourselves, confidence in our abilities. He instilled in us the conviction that struggle is our only recourse. He was a citizen of the free world that together we are in the process of building. That is why we say that Che Guevara is also African and Burkinabè.
”
Sankara, who is often referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara", emulated Guevara (1928–1967) in both style and substance. Stylistically, Sankara emulated Guevara by preferring to wear a starred beret and military fatigues, living ascetically with few possessions, and keeping a minimal salary once assuming power. Both men also considered themselves allies of Fidel Castro (Sankara was visited by Castro in 1987), spoke fluent French, are well known for having ridden motorcycles, and are often cited as effectively utilizing their charisma to motivate their followers. Substantively, Guevara and Sankara were both Marxist revolutionaries, who believed in armed revolution against imperialism and monopoly capitalism, denounced financial neo-colonialism before the United Nations, held up agrarian land reform and literacy campaigns as key parts of their agenda, and utilized revolutionary tribunals and CDR's against counter-revolutionaries. Both men were also murdered in their late thirties (Guevara 39 / Sankara 38) by opponents, with Sankara coincidentally giving a speech marking and honoring the 20th anniversary of Che Guevara's October 9, 1967 execution, one week before his own assassination on October 15, 1987. "Sankara‘s assassins were guided by imperialism, which could not allow a man with the ideas and actions of Sankara to lead a country on a continent so exploited for hundreds of years by international imperialism, colonialism, and neocolonial governments that do their bidding. Sankara‘s political ideas will endure, like
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— Thomas Sankara
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those of Patrice Lumumba of Congo and Amílcar Cabral of Guinea-Bissau, also assassinated by traitors at the behest of the empire." — Ulises Estrada, a key organizer of Che Guevara's 1966-67 guerrilla mission to Bolivia Compaoré immediately reversed the nationalizations, overturned nearly all of Sankara's policies, returned the country back under the International Monetary Fund fold, and ultimately spurned most of Sankara's legacy. A week prior to his death Sankara gave what would become his own epitaph, remarking that "while revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas." "Africa and the world are yet to recover from Sankara‘s assassination. Just as we have yet to recover from the loss of Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Eduardo Mondlane, Amílcar Cabral, Steve Biko, Samora Machel, and most recently John Garang, to name only a few. While malevolent forces have not used the same methods to eliminate each of these great pan-Africanists, they have been guided by the same motive: to keep Africa in chains."
Twenty years later, on October 15, 2007, Thomas Sankara was commemorated around the world in ceremonies that took place in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Niger, Tanzania, Burundi, France, and Canada.
The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya, a prominent Kenyan politician during Jomo Kenyatta's government. He was founder of the Nairobi People's Congress Party, a key figure in the formation of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), and the Minister of Economic Planning and Development at the time of his death. Mboya was assassinated on July 5, 1969 in Nairobi. The savoir must stand on the shoulders of Tom Mboya, who at age 28, wa the chairman of all African peoples conference, convened by a president of a country, and who founded the very first trade movement sin Kenya, was a constitutionalist, was a great young mobilize, named aft eth tom Mboya social halls in the country, was instrumental in forming the Kenya African
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— Antonio de Figueiredo, February 2008
National Union (Kanu) which formed the government at independence, and became its first Secretary-General, organised the famous airlift program Kenya Student Airlift Programme, with his friend, JF Kennedy, and who was a Pan-Africanist, believing eh black Africa is one nation, just s Arabia is one nation, as was propose by Ghadafi in al Arabia, and just as Europe is one nation, under he UE. He was against acquisition of massive individual wealth. He believed in fighting poverty and unemployment. We in the trade union movement have remembered him by building the Tom Mboya Labour College. The design of Kenya‘s National Flag, whose colours represented the Kenya African Democratic Union (Kadu) and the Kenya African National Union (Kanu) party colours, and wananchi‘s shield and spears for defence. The savoir must be an intellectual, like TJ Mboya, whose Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1965, on African Socialism and its Application to Planning in Kenya, visualized Kenya as a nation with a growing economy and citizens enjoying higher and growing per capita income equitably distributed, talking about distant vision of nuclear energy, and space activities. He pushed for free education upto at tertiary level, both Forms V and VI and at university. The savior must land on the shoulders of Stalin, and his friend Lenin, and bring industries of the counties of Luo land, rural electrification and centralised planning for the same of equity, as the great men did in post tsar soviet republic. At that time, Mboya developed a close relationship with Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana who, like Mboya, was a PanAfricanist. In 1958, during the All-African Peoples' Conference in Ghana, convened by Kwame Nkrumah, Mboya was elected as the Conference Chairman at the age of 28. In 1959 Mboya organized the Airlift Africa project, together with the African-American Students Foundation in the United States, through which 81 Kenyan students were flown to the U.S. to study at U.S. universities. Barack Obama's father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a friend of Mboya's and a fellow Luo; although he was not on the first airlift plane in 1959, since he was headed for Hawaii, not the continental U.S., he received a scholarship through the AASF and occasional grants for books and expenses. In 1960 the Kennedy Foundation agreed to underwrite the airlift, after Mboya visited Senator Jack Kennedy to ask for assistance, and Airlift Africa was extended to Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar (now Tanzania), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Nyasaland (now Malawi). Some 230 African students received scholarships to study at Class I accredited colleges in the United States in 1960, and hundreds more in 1961-63. Mboya's role in Kenya's politics and transformation is the subject of increasing interest, especially with the coming into scene of American politician Barack Obama, Jr. Obama's father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a US-educated Kenyan who benefited from Mboya's scholarship programme in the 60s, and married during his stay there, siring the future Illinois Senator and President. Obama Sr. had seen
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The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917–1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system. As a politician, Lenin was a persuasive orator, as a political scientist his extensive theoretic and philosophical developments of Marxism produced Marxism–Leninism, the pragmatic Russian application of Marxism. As influential as he was in life, Lenin may have been more so in death. Over 100 million have lined up to view his mummified body. His memory has been used to support every change in Soviet policy and every new regime since his death. His theories inspired the successful revolutions of Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh; as well as countless other revolutionaries in countries full of oppressed and powerless people.
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Mboya shortly before the assassination, and testified at the ensuing trial. Obama Sr. believed he was later targeted in a hit-and-run incident as a result of this testimony. Mboya was not the first victim of assassinations under President Kenyatta‘s reign, under the alleged Kiambu Mafia. The first victim was C.M.G. Argwings Kodhek, who was assassinated by a government issued police gun, near his gate, and the assassin was driven in a vice president (Moi) escort vehicle. The second victim of political assassination was Poi Gama Pinto, again allegedly by the Kiambu Mafia. And Mboya was not the last, because after seven year‘s in 975, J.M Kariuki, was assassinated, and body thrown to the forest, after he questioned the land ownerships by Kenyatta and his clique, the so called Kiambu Mafia.
The savoir must stand on the shoulder of George Padmore . George Padmore (1903 – 1959), born "Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse" in Trinidad, was a leading Pan-Africanist, journalist, and author who left Trinidad in 1924 to study in the United States and from there moved to the Soviet Union, Germany, and France, before settling in London and, toward the end of his life, Accra, Ghana. During his college years Nurse became involved with the Workers (Communist) Party and changed his name to George Padmore. Padmore officially joined the Communist Party in 1927 and was active in its mass organization targeted to black Americans, the American Negro Labor Congress. Padmore, an energetic worker and prolific writer, was tapped by Communist Party trade union leader William Z. Foster as a rising star and was taken to Moscow to deliver a report on the formation of the Trade Union Unity League to the Communist International later in 1929. Following the delivery of his report, Padmore was asked to stay on in Moscow to head the Negro Bureau of the Red International of Labor Unions (Profintern). He was even elected to the Moscow City Soviet, an institution roughly equivalent to city councils in the west. One consequence of the time Padmore spent in the Soviet Union was an end of his time as a resident of the United States. As a non-citizen and a communist, Padmore was effectively barred from reentry to America once he had departed. Padmore nevertheless remained a socialist and sought new ways to work for African freedom from imperial rule. In 1934 Padmore moved to London, where he became the center of a community of writers dedicated to pan-Africanism and African independence. As Carol Polsgrove has shown in Ending British Rule in Africa: Writers in a Common Cause, Padmore and his allies in the 1930s and 1940s -among them James, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta, the Gold Coast's Kwame Nkrumah and South Africa's Peter Abrahams-- saw publishing as a strategy for political change. They published small periodicals, which were sometimes seized by authorities when they reached the colonies. He was an energetic networker, sending articles out to newspapers across the world and maintaining a correspondence with both W.E.B. Du Bois and African-American novelist Richard Wright, then living in Paris. After Padmore's death Nkrumah paid tribute to him in a radio broadcast. ""One day, the whole of Africa will surely be free and united and when the final tale is told, the significance of George Padmore's work will be revealed."
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The savoir must stand on the shoulder of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Du Bois was the first African American to earn a doctorate and became a professor in United States of America. Du Bois rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. Du Bois and his supporters opposed the Atlanta Compromise, an agreement crafted by Booker T. Washington which provided that Southern blacks would work and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic educational and economic opportunities. Instead, Du Bois insisted on full civil rights and increased political representation, which he believed would be brought about by the African-American intellectual elite. He referred to this group as the talented tenth and believed that African Americans needed the chances for advanced education to develop its leadership. Racism was the main target of Du Bois's polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in education and employment. His cause included colored persons everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organized several Pan-African Congresses to free African colonies from European powers. Du Bois made several trips to Europe, Africa, and Asia. After World War I, he surveyed the experiences of American black soldiers in France and documented widespread bigotry in the United States military. Du Bois emerged as a spokesperson for his race, second only to Booker T. Washington. Washington was the director of the Tuskegee Institute, and wielded tremendous influence within the African-American community. Du Bois felt that African Americans should fight for equal rights, rather than passively submit to the segregation and discrimination of Washington's Atlanta Compromise. Du Bois resolved that "one could not be a calm cool and detached scientist while Negroes were lynched, murdered, and starved." Du Bois realized that "the cure wasn't simply telling people the truth; it was inducing them to act on the truth." One of the major contrasts between the two leaders was their approach to education: Washington felt that African-American schools should limit themselves to industrial education topics such as agricultural and mechanical skills. However, Du Bois felt that black schools should also offer a liberal arts curriculum (including the classics, arts, and humanities), because liberal arts were required to develop a leadership elite. Du Bois traveled to Europe in 1921 to attend the second Pan-African Congress. The
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assembled black leaders from around the world issued the London Resolutions and established a Pan-African Association headquarters in Paris. Under Du Bois's guidance, the resolutions insisted on racial equality, and that Africa be ruled by Africans (not, as in the 1919 congress, with the consent of Africans). Another important African American leader of the 1920s was Marcus Garvey, promoter of the Back-to-Africa movement and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Garvey denounced Du Bois's efforts to achieve equality through integration, and instead endorsed racial separatism. Du Bois initially supported the concept of Garvey's Black Star Line, a shipping company that was intended to facilitate commerce within the African Diaspora. Responding to Garvey's slogan "Africa for the Africans" slogan, Du Bois said that he supported that concept. "And herein lays the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor – all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked – who is good? Not that men are ignorant – what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men."
Du Bois was a member of the three-person delegation from the NAACP that attended the 1945 conference in San Francisco at which the United Nations was established. The NAACP delegation wanted the United Nations to endorse racial equality and to bring and end to the colonial era. To push the United Nations in that direction, Du Bois drafted a proposal that pronounced "[t]he colonial system of government ... is undemocratic, socially dangerous and a main cause of wars." The NAACP proposal received support from China, Russia, and India, but it was virtually ignored by the other major powers, and the NAACP proposals were not included in the United Nations charter. Du Bois continued to believe that capitalism was the primary culprit responsible for the subjugation of colored people around the world, and therefore – although he recognized the faults of the Soviet Union – he continued to uphold communism as a possible solution to racial problems. Du Bois did not endorse communism for its own sake, but did so because "the enemies of his enemies were his friends." Du Bois joined the Communist party in October 1961, at the age of 93. He wrote: ―I believe in communism. I mean by communism, a planned way of life in the production of wealth and work designed for building a state whose object is the highest welfare of its people and not merely the profit of a part." The U.S. government confiscated his passport several times because of his support of communism and socialism.
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Du Bois, "Of Alexander Crummell", in the Souls of Black Folk, 1903
The savoir must stand on the shoulder of Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., (17 August 1887 – 10 June 1940) was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He founded the Black Star Line, part of the Back-to-Africa movement, which promoted the return of the African Diaspora to their ancestral lands. Garvey was unique in advancing a Pan-African philosophy to inspire a global mass movement and economic empowerment focusing on Africa known as Garveyism. Promoted by the UNIA as a movement of African Redemption, Garveyism would eventually inspire others, ranging from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement (which proclaims Garvey as a prophet). The intent of the movement was for those of African ancestry to "redeem" Africa and for the European colonial powers to leave it. His essential ideas about Africa were stated in an editorial in the Negro World titled ―African Fundamentalism‖ where he wrote:
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Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality… let us hold together under all climes and in every country…
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Garvey set about the business of developing a program to improve the conditions of those of African ancestry "at home and abroad" under UNIA auspices. On 17 August 1918, publication of the widely distributed Negro World newspaper began. Garvey worked as an editor without pay until November 1920. By June 1919 the membership of the organization had grown to over two million. On 27 June 1919, the Black Star Line of Delaware was incorporated by the members of the UNIA, with Garvey as President. By September, it obtained its first ship. Much fanfare surrounded the inspection of the S.S. Yarmouth and its rechristening as the S.S. Frederick Douglass on 14 September 1919. Such a rapid accomplishment garnered attention from many. While in his Harlem office on 14 October 1919, Garvey received a visit from George Tyler, who told him that Kilroe "had sent him" to get Garvey. Tyler then pulled a .38-caliber revolver and fired four shots, wounding Garvey in the right leg and scalp. Garvey was taken to the hospital and
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Tyler arrested. The next day, it was let out that Tyler had committed suicide by leaping from the third tier of the Harlem jail as he was being taken to his arraignment. By August 1920, the UNIA claimed four million members. Another of Garvey's ventures was the Negro Factories Corporation. His plan called for creating the infrastructure to manufacture every marketable commodity in every big U.S. industrial center, as well as in Central America, the West Indies, and Africa. Related endeavors included a grocery chain, restaurant, publishing house, and other businesses. Convinced that blacks should have a permanent homeland in Africa, Garvey sought to develop Liberia. The Liberia program, launched in 1920, was intended to build colleges, universities, industrial plants, and railroads as part of an industrial base from which to operate. However, it was abandoned in the mid-1920s after much opposition from European powers with interests in Liberia. In response to suggestions that he wanted to take all Africans of the Diaspora back to Africa, he wrote, "We do not want all the Negroes in Africa. Some are no good here, and naturally will be no good there." He penned his well known "First Message to the Negroes of the World from Atlanta Prison", wherein he made his famous proclamation: Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, look for me all around you, for, with God's grace, I shall come and bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in America and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you in the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Life.
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While W. E. B. Du Bois felt that the Black Star Line was ―original and promising,‖ In September 1929, he founded the People's Political Party (PPP), Jamaica's first modern political party, which focused on workers' rights, education, and aid to the poor. In April 1931, Garvey launched the Edelweiss Amusement Company. He set the company up to help artists earn their livelihood from their craft. Several Jamaican entertainers — Kidd Harold, Ernest Cupidon, Bim & Bam, and Ranny Williams — went on to become popular after receiving initial exposure that the company gave them. Also in 1938 he set up the School of African Philosophy in Toronto to train UNIA leaders. On 15 November 1964, the government of Jamaica, proclaimed him Jamaica's first national hero and, reinterred him at a shrine in National Heroes Park. Schools, colleges, highways, and buildings in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States have been named in his honor. The UNIA red, black, and green flag has been adopted as the Black Liberation Flag. Since 1980, Garvey's bust has been housed in the Organization of American States' Hall of Heroes in Washington, D.C. Kwame Nkrumah named the national shipping line of Ghana the Black Star Line in honor of Garvey and the UNIA. Nkrumah also named the national soccer team the
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The savoir must stand on the shoulder of Ho Chi Minh Hồ Chí Minh (19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), born a Vietnamese MarxistLeninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, as well as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Vietcong during the Vietnam War until his death in 1969. Hồ led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communistgoverned Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Điện Biên Phủ. He officially stepped down from power in 1955 due to his health, but remained to be a highly visible figurehead and inspiration for Vietnamese fighting for his cause — a united, independent Vietnam — until his death. Saigon, the capital of Republic of Vietnam, after the war, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor. Following World War I, under the name of Nguyễn Ái Quốc (―Nguyễn the Patriot‖), he petitioned for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks, but was ignored. Citing the language and the spirit of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Nguyễn petitioned U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for help to remove the French from Vietnam and replace them with a new, nationalist government. While he was unable to obtain consideration at Versailles, the failed effort had the effect of further radicalizing Nguyễn, while at the same time making him a national hero of the anti-colonial movement at home in Vietnam. In 1920, during the Congress of Tours, in France, Nguyễn Ái
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Black Stars as well. The black star at the center of Ghana's flag is also inspired by the Black Star. During a trip to Jamaica, Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta Scott King visited the shrine of Marcus Garvey on 20 June 1965 and laid a wreath. In a speech he told the audience that Garvey "was the first man of color to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny. And make the Negro feel he was somebody." Dr. King was a posthumous recipient of the first Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights on 10 December 1968 issued by the Jamaican Government and presented to King's widow. The Obama Administration declined to pardon Garvey in 2011, writing that its policy is not to consider requests for posthumous pardons.
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After the August Revolution (1945) organized by the Việt Minh, Hồ became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that borrowed much from the French and American declarations. Though he convinced Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate, his government was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American President Harry Truman for support for Vietnamese independence, citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman never responded. In 1987, UNESCO officially recommended to member states that they "join in the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of President Hồ Chí Minh by organizing various events as a tribute to his memory", considering "the important and many-sided contribution of President Ho Chi Minh in the fields of culture, education and the arts" and that Hồ Chí Minh "devoted his whole life to the national liberation of the Vietnamese people, contributing to the common struggle of peoples for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress."
The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of John Garang John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005) a Sudanese politician and rebel leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army during the Second Sudanese Civil War, and following a peace agreement he briefly served as First Vice President of Sudan from January 2005 until he died in a July 2005 helicopter crash. When pursuing agricultural economics as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow at the University of Dar es Salaam
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Quốc became a founding member of the Parti Communiste Français (French Communist Party)(PCF) and spent much of his time in Moscow afterwards, becoming the Comintern‘s Asia hand and the principal theorist on colonial warfare. During the Indochina War, the PCF would be involved with anti-war propaganda, sabotage and support for the revolutionary effort. Around 1940, Nguyễn Ái Quốc began regularly using the name "Hồ Chí Minh", a Vietnamese name combining a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ) with a given name meaning "enlightened will" (from Sino-Vietnamese; Chí meaning 'will' (or spirit), and Minh meaning 'light').
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The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Steve Biko
Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was an antiapartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement. While living, his writings and activism attempted to empower black people, and he was famous for his slogan "black is beautiful", which he described as meaning: "man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being". He became convinced that Black, Indian and Coloured students needed an organization of their own, he helped found the South African Students' Organisation (SASO), whose agenda included political self-reliance and the unification of university students in a "black consciousness." In 1968 Biko was elected its first president. SASO evolved into the influential Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Biko was also involved with the World Student Christian Federation. In 1972, Biko was expelled from the University of Natal because of his political activities and
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(UDSM), he was a member of the University Students' African Revolutionary Front. However, Garang soon decided to return to Sudan and join the rebels. In 1983, Garang created Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), which was opposed to military rule and Islamic dominance of the country, and encouraged other army garrisons to mutiny against the Islamic law imposed on the country by the government. This action marked the commonly agreed upon beginning of the Second Sudanese Civil War. The SPLA gained the backing of Libya, Uganda and Ethiopia. Garang and his army controlled a large part of the southern regions of the country, named New Sudan. He claimed his troops' courage comes from "the conviction that we are fighting a just cause. That is something North Sudan and its people don't have." Critics suggested financial motivations to his rebellion, noting that much of Sudan's oil wealth lies in the south of the country. In late July 2005, Garang died after the Ugandan presidential Mi-172 helicopter he was flying in crashed. He had been returning from a meeting in Rwakitura with long-time ally President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Garang was considered instrumental in ending the civil war, the effect of Garang's death upon the peace deal was uncertain.
he became honorary president of the Black People's Convention. He was banned by the apartheid regime in February 1973 meaning that he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time nor to speak in public, was restricted to the King William's Town magisterial district, and could not write publicly or speak with the media. It was also forbidden to quote anything he said, including speeches or simple conversations. When Biko was banned, his movement within the country was restricted to the Eastern Cape, where he was born. After returning there, he formed a number of grassroots organizations based on the notion of self-reliance: Zanempilo, the Zimele Trust Fund (which helped support former political prisoners and their families), Njwaxa Leather-Works Project and the Ginsberg Education Fund. In spite of the repression of the apartheid government, Biko and the BCM played a significant role in organizing the protests which culminated in the Soweto Uprising of 16 June 1976. In the aftermath of the uprising, which was crushed by heavily armed police shooting school children protesting, the authorities began to target Biko further. On the 18th of August, 1977, Biko was arrested at a police roadblock and the interrogation lasted twenty-two hours and included torture and beatings resulting in a coma. He suffered a major head injury while in police custody, and was chained to a window grille for a day. He died shortly after arrival at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September. The police claimed his death was the result of an extended hunger strike. Because of his high profile, news of Biko's death spread quickly, opening many eyes around the world to the brutality of the apartheid regime. His funeral was attended by over 10,000 people, including numerous ambassadors and other diplomats from the United States and Western Europe. Like Frantz Fanon, Biko originally studied medicine, and, like Fanon, Biko developed an intense concern for the development of black consciousness as a solution to the existential struggles which shape existence, both as a human and as an African (see Negritude). Biko can thus be seen as a follower of Fanon and Aimé Césaire, in contrast to more multi-racialist ANC leaders such as Nelson Mandela after his imprisonment at Robben Island, and Albert Luthuli who were first disciples of Gandhi. Biko saw the struggle to restore African consciousness as having two stages, "Psychological liberation" and "Physical liberation". The nonviolent influence of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. upon Biko is then suspect, as Biko knew that for his struggle to give rise to physical liberation, it was necessary that it exist within the political realities of the
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The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Amílcar Cabral. Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (12 September 1924 – 20 January 1973) was a Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and politician. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau. He was assassinated on 20 January 1973, about 8 months before Guinea-Bissau's unilateral declaration of independence. While an Agronomy student in Lisbon, he founded student movements dedicated to the cause of liberation of the Portuguese colonies in Africa. He returned to Africa in the 1950s, and was instrumental in promoting the independence causes of the then Portuguese colonies. He was the founder (in 1956) of the PAIGC or Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (Portuguese for African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) and one of the founders of Movimento Popular Libertação de Angola (MPLA) (later in the same year), together with Agostinho Neto, whom he met in Portugal, and Angolan nationalists. Cabral led the PAIGC's guerrilla movement (in Portuguese Guinea) against the Portuguese colonialists, which evolved into one of most successful war of independence in African history. The goal of the conflict was to attain independence for both Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde. Over the course of the conflict, as the movement captured territory from the Portuguese, Cabral became the de facto leader of a large portion of what became Guinea-Bissau. In preparation for the liberation war, Cabral set up training camps in neighboring Ghana with the permission of Kwame Nkrumah. Cabral trained his lieutenants through various techniques, including mock conversations to provide them with effective communication skills that would aid their efforts to mobilize Guinean tribal chiefs to support the PAIGC. Amílcar Cabral soon realized that the war effort could be sustained only if his troops could be fed and taught to live off the land alongside the larger populace. Being an agronomist, he taught his troops to teach local crop growers better farming techniques, so that they could increase productivity and be able to feed their own family and tribe, as well as the soldiers enlisted in the PAIGC's military wing. When not fighting, PAIGC soldiers would till and plow the fields alongside the local population. Cabral and the PAIGC also set up a
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apartheid regime, and Biko's nonviolence may be seen more as a tactic than a personal conviction.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
trade-and-barter bazaar system that moved around the country and made staple goods available to the countryside at prices lower than that of colonial store owners. During the war, Cabral also set up a roving hospital and triage station to give medical care to wounded PAIGC's soldiers and quality-of-life care to the larger populace, relying on medical supplies garnered from the USSR and Sweden. The bazaars and triage stations were at first stationary until they came under frequent attack from Portuguese forces. In 1972, Cabral began to form a People's Assembly in preparation for the birth of an independent African nation, but disgruntled former rival Inocêncio Kani, with the help of Portuguese agents operating within the PAIGC, shot and killed him before he could complete his project. The assassination took place on 20 January 1973 in Conakry, Guinea. His half-brother, Luís Cabral, became the leader of the Guinea-Bissau branch of the party and would eventually become President of Guinea-Bissau. More than a guerrilla leader, Cabral was highly regarded internationally as one of the most prominent African thinkers of the 20th century and for his intellectual contributions aimed at formulating a coherent cultural, philosophical and historical theoretical framework to justify and explain independence movements. This is reflected in his various writings and public interventions.
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— Fidel Castro, 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba Cabral is considered a "revolutionary theoretician as significant as Frantz Fanon and Che Guevara", whose influence reverberated far beyond the African continent. Amílcar Cabral International Airport, Cape Verde's principal international airport at Sal, is named in his honor. There is also a football competition, the Amílcar Cabral Cup, in zone 2, named as a tribute to him. In addition, the only privately owned university in Guinea-Bissau is named after him—Amílcar Cabral University—and is in Bissau.
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Comrade Amílcar Cabral was one of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, who instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation.
The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader — a position created in the constitution as the highest ranking political and religious authority of the nation — until his death. Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation", also known as a Grand Ayatollah), author of more than forty books, but is primarily known for his political activities. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last Shah. Khomeini has been lauded as a "charismatic leader of immense popularity", and a "champion of Islamic revival" by Shia scholars. Khomeini is revered by many Iranians, independent of their social class, ethnic background or religion. In January 1963, the Shah announced the "White Revolution", a six-point programme of reform calling for land reform, nationalization of the forests, the sale of state-owned enterprises to private interests, electoral changes to enfranchise women and allow non-Muslims to hold office, profit-sharing in industry, and a literacy campaign in the nation's schools. Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programmes, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to America and Israel. On the afternoon of 'Ashura (3 June 1963), Khomeini delivered a speech at the Feyziyeh madrasah drawing parallels between the infamous tyrant Yazid and the Shah, denouncing the Shah as a "wretched, miserable man," and warning him that if he did not change his ways the day would come when the people would offer up thanks for his departure from the country. On 5 June 1963, (15 of Khordad), two days after this public denunciation of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini was arrested. This sparked three days of major riots throughout Iran and led to the deaths of some 400. That event is now referred to as the Movement of 15 Khordad. Khomeini was kept under house arrest and released in August. On 26 October 1964, the day of the Shah's holiday celebrating '2,500 years of continuous monarchy,' Khomeini denounced both the Shah and the United States. This time it was in response to the "capitulations" or diplomatic immunity
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Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or Supreme Leader. In the meantime, however, Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade. Cassette copies of his lectures fiercely denouncing the Shah as (for example) "... the Jewish agent, the American serpent whose head must be smashed with a stone", became common items in the markets of Iran, helped to demythologize the power and dignity of the Shah and his reign. Aware of the importance of broadening his base, Khomeini reached out to Islamic reformist and secular enemies of the Shah, despite his long-term ideological incompatibility with them. Although thousands of kilometers away from Iran in Paris, Khomeini set the course of the revolution, urging Iranians not to compromise and ordering work stoppages against the regime. During the last few months of his exile, Khomeini received a constant stream of reporters, supporters, and notables, eager to hear the spiritual leader of the revolution. Khomeini had refused to return to Iran until the Shah left. On 17 January 1979, the Shah did leave the country (ostensibly "on vacation"), never to return. Two weeks later, on Thursday, 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned in triumph to Iran, welcomed by a joyous crowd of up to five million people. When asked about his feelings of returning from exile in the plane, he replied Hich ehsasi nadaram; "I feel nothing". On 22 October 1979, the United States admitted the exiled and ailing Shah into the country for cancer treatment. In Iran, there was an immediate outcry, with both Khomeini and leftist groups demanding the Shah's return to Iran for trial and execution. Revolutionaries were reminded of Operation Ajax, 26 years earlier, when the Shah fled abroad while American CIA and British intelligence organized a coup d'état to overthrow his nationalist opponent. He promised that "no one should remain homeless in this country," and that Iranians would have free telephone, heating, electricity, bus services and
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granted by the Shah to American military personnel in Iran. The famous "capitulation" law (or "status-of-forces agreement") would allow members of the U.S. armed forces in Iran to be tried in their own military courts. Khomeini was arrested in November 1964 and held for half a year. Upon his release, he was brought before Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansur, who tried to convince Khomeini that he should apologize and drop his opposition to the government. Khomeini refused. In fury, Mansur slapped Khomeini's face. Two weeks later, Mansur was assassinated on his way to parliament. Four members of the Fadayane Islam were later executed for the murder. Khomeini spent more than 14 years in exile, mostly in the holy Shia city of Najaf, Iraq. In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist (Hokumat-e Islami : Velayat-e faqih). This was his most famous and influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time).
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The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Malcolm X. Malcolm X ( May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. In prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and after his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years Malcolm X was the public face of the controversial group, but disillusionment with Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad led him to leave the Nation in March 1964. After a
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free oil at their doorstep. After eleven days in a hospital, Khomeini died at the age of 86. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei. Iranians poured out into the cities and streets to mourn Khomeini's death in a "completely spontaneous and unorchestrated outpouring of grief." Despite the hundred-degree heat, crushing mobs created an impassable sea of black for miles as they wailed, chanted and rhythmically beat themselves in anguish ... As the hours passed, fire trucks had to be brought in to spray water on the crowd to provide relief from the heat, while helicopters were flown in to ferry the eight killed and more than four hundred injured. 3.5 million people attended his funeral. Iranian officials aborted Khomeini's first funeral, after a large crowd stormed the funeral procession, nearly destroying Khomeini's wooden coffin in order to get a last glimpse of his body. At one point, Khomeini's body almost fell to the ground, as the crowd attempted to grab pieces of the death shroud. The second funeral was held under much tighter security. Khomeini embraced international revolution and Third World solidarity, giving it "precedence over Muslim fraternity. From the time Khomeini's supporters gained control of the media until his death, the Iranian media "devoted extensive coverage to non-Muslim revolutionary movements (from the Sandinistas to the African National Congress and the Irish Republican Army) and downplayed the role of the Islamic movements considered conservative, such as the Afghan mujahidin." Khomeini was a prolific writer (200 of his books are online) who authored commentaries on the Qur'an, on Islamic jurisprudence, the roots of Islamic law, and Islamic traditions. He also released books about philosophy, gnosticism, poetry, literature, government and politics
period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, he returned to the United States, where he founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In February 1965, less than a year after leaving the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by three members of the group. As a spokesman for the Nation of Islam he taught black supremacy and advocated separation of black and white Americans—in contrast to the civil rights movement's emphasis on integration. After breaking with the Nation of Islam in 1964—saying of his association with it, "I was a zombie then ... pointed in a certain direction and told to march"— and becoming a Sunni Muslim, he disavowed racism and expressed willingness to work with civil rights leaders, though still emphasizing black self-determination and self defense. Little signed his name as Malcolm X for the first time. "The Muslim's 'X' symbolized the true African family name that he never could know. For me, my 'X' replaced the white slavemaster name of 'Little' which some blueeyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears. The FBI had opened a file on Malcolm X in 1950 after he wrote a letter to President Truman stating his opposition to the Korean War and declaring himself to be a communist. It began surveillance of him in 1953, and soon the FBI turned its attention from concerns about possible Communist Party association to Malcolm X's rapid ascent in the Nation of Islam. Beside his skill as a speaker, Malcolm X had an impressive physical presence. One police officer noted of Malcolm X "No one man should have that much power." Malcolm X was also invited to many official embassy functions sponsored by African nations, where he met heads of state and other leaders, including Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea, and Kenneth Kaunda of the Zambian African National Congress. Malcolm X has been widely considered the second most influential leader of the Nation of Islam after Elijah Muhammad. He was largely credited with the group's dramatic increase in membership between the early 1950s and early 1960s (from 500 to 25,000 by one author's estimate, or from 1,200 to 50,000 or 75,000 by another's). He inspired the boxer Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) to join the Nation of Islam. (though like Malcolm X himself, Ali later left the group to become a Sunni Muslim). On December 1, 1963, when he was asked for a comment about the assassination of President Kennedy, Malcolm X said that it was a case of "chickens coming home to roost". He added that "chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they've always made me glad." The New York Times wrote, "in further criticism of Mr. Kennedy, the Muslim leader cited the murders of Patrice Lumumba, Congo leader, of Medgar Evers, civil rights leader, and of the Negro girls bombed earlier this year in a Birmingham church. These, he said, were instances of other 'chickens coming home to roost'." Malcolm X founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, a secular group that advocated PanAfricanism. In April, Malcolm X made a speech titled "The Ballot or the Bullet" in which he advised African Americans to exercise their right to vote wisely. Malcolm X visited Africa on three separate occasions, once in 1959 and twice in
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1964. During his visits, he met officials, gave interviews to newspapers, and spoke on television and radio in Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Liberia, Algeria, and Morocco. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria invited Malcolm X to serve in their governments.
The savior needs to stand on the shoulders of Martin Luther King Jnr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the AfricanAmerican Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.In 1964; King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential
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Malcolm X has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. He is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage. He is largely responsible for the spread of Islam in the black community in the United States. Malcolm X articulated their complaints concerning inequality better than the mainstream civil rights movement did. By giving expression to their frustration, Malcolm X "made clear the price that white America would have to pay if it did not accede to black America's legitimate demands." In cities around the world, Malcolm X's birthday (May 19) is commemorated as Malcolm X Day. The city of Berkeley, California, has recognized Malcolm X's birthday as a citywide holiday since 1979.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. A precocious student, he skipped both the ninth and the twelfth grade and entered Morehouse College at age fifteen without formally graduating from high school.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott urged and planned by Nixon and led by King, soon followed. The boycott lasted for 385 days, and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested during this campaign, which ended with a United States District Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle that ended racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses. King organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into the law of the United States with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism. In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism." King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism." King also stated, in his "Beyond Vietnam", speech that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar ... it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring". King quoted a United States official who said that, from Vietnam to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution." King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and said that the United States should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution. In 1967, King gave another speech, in which he lashed out against what he called the "cruel irony" of American blacks fighting and dying for a country which treated them as second class citizens: We were taking the young black men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties which they had not
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―All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.‖—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
found in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem. ... We have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them in the same schools. King's main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, which has enabled more Americans to reach their potential. He is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today. His name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues. On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the Black Consciousness Movement and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa. King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for South African leader Albert Luthuli, another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in his country.
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The heroine that will deliver the Luos will have to begin medias res; there is no time to build a family legacy, a kingpin, and an empire of blue eyed and big stomached tribal chiefs. And like Bewoulf of Nowell Codex, she must travel great distances in knowledge and courage, to prove her strength at impossible odds against the ‗supernatural demons and beasts‘ that plague Luo land and her people.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
INFORMED POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
SO! DO YOU HAVE A PARTY? ‘how fortunate for leaders of men, that men do not think‘. -Hitler People like Raila Odinga, and his family, cannot be fought with violence. Capitalists, neo-colonialists, neo-homeguards and home guards cannot be fought with violence. Ti will never work. Our own experience shows us that; and the experience of third world shows us that. The wise men advised eons past that, ‗it is better o learn from experience, especially when it is someone elses.‘ We need to learn from Mau Mau experience, when Operation Anvil extinguished them, forthwith. And it was only the constitutionalists, through arguments of tom Mboya, Dr. Gikonyo, Odinga, Ronald Ngala, etc, who saved the country.
Violence did not stop slave trade, negotiations did. Violence did not end the French turmoil after the revolution. Talking did. Violence did not end the Chinese turmoil, negotiations did. Political organization is vital for social protgress, and only those who elect determine their fate. The strength of an idea is also reflected in the fear it had in the minds of past dictators. ‗Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.‘ said Joseph Stalin, the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee and leader of the Soviet Union after Lenin. It is in my mind, through my ideas, that the solutions to my problems shall be found. Bantu Steve Biko, the martyr and symbol of black resistance to the oppressive Apartheid regime and the founder of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, noted that, ‗The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.‘ All I need is just one idea. One idea! We not only need ideas, but we also need to be organised, and political parties are the vehicles through which people express their ideas in such a ways as to gain enough members to take over power and implement their ideas, DEMOCRATICALLY.
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We want to learn from great thinker, that ‗war is the halt of talking‘/ when we go to war, it means we have stopped talking, and when we star talking, the war ends.‘
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
We must appreciate that personal problems are political problems. There are no personal solutions; rather, we will need collective action for a collective solution, arising out of ‗political action,‘ through political parties. Political participation is mandatory, and for Luos, a democratic, competitive participation, is the lifeline. Mao Tse Tung was right, ‗It is necessary for intellectuals, students, soldiers and the average peasant to pay attention and involve themselves with political work.‘
Elections are the primary means for citizens to hold their country's officials accountable for their actions in office, especially when they have behaved illegally, corruptly, or ineptly while carrying out the work of the government. But for elections—and the people's will—to be meaningful, basic rights must be protected and affirmed, such as with a Bill of Rights, as in the United States. James Madison, the author of the U.S. Bill of Rights, believed that the very basis for government's responsiveness was the assurance that citizens would have sufficient knowledge to direct it. If citizens are to govern their own affairs, either directly or through representative government, they must be informed about how best to determine their affairs and how best to represent and execute them. If citizens are not well informed, they can neither act in their own self-interest, broadly speaking, nor have any serious choice in elections, much less offer themselves as candidates. James Madison, the great American leader and founding father, noted in 1822 that, "A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." If citizens are to govern their own affairs, either directly or through representative government, they must be informed about how best to determine their affairs and how best to represent and execute them. And Alexis de Tocqueville, writing in 1840, in Democracy in America, agreed when he advised that; "...The concentration of power and the subjection of individuals will increase amongst democratic nations... in the same proportion as their ignorance." Indeed, Bill Gates in his book "The Road Ahead" predicted information to be the most important thing of the modern age.
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The need to be informed!
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Political Parties, not violence! The life we want for ourselves is only possible through political means. At present the capitalists are able to keep their privilege position because they control political power. For the human beings to free them from oppression, economic, political and social, they need to organise into a political party whose aim is to win political power and to use it to replace the oppressors. Political parties will act as our vehicle to propos our policies, to peddle our propaganda, to teach our ideology, and to organise the working class towards progress and democratic worker control of the production process. Only through such organisation can be achieve the ‗peoples democratic dictatorship‘, the most ideal form of governance, where the people dictate what is good for them, as a unit, as a community, as a collective. A leadership which the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) calls, ‗from the masses, to the masses.‘ Liberation can only be achieved by a liberating conscious, majority, political action can achieve what we want, and not minority action, whether on the industrial or political fields, and not by , elite, educated class, and only.
We need no tribal rulers and king pins, such rulers that leaders flourish on the ignorance of their followers. Once the masses understand their interests and know that they want freedom from want and social justice, and then require no rulers, but political organisation. Freedom from want and social justice cannot be achieved by violence or the act of a minority. It must be the conscious act of the majority of people throughout, through the ballot box. Would it have been possible for Hitler to take over the power in Germany? Anti-democratic forces may have the political power, but if the workers are against them, what can they really do if no one obeys? We should not just take orders; we must act when something is wrong. Strikes and boycotts are our peaceful weapons; it I better not to attend the rallies, than to attend, heckle, and then they send the police to us. The oligarchy of private capital to enormous power cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in
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The way to political power lies through the ballot box. We can use the vote to win power just as today they use it to hand over power to capitalists.
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most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights. Unless, of course, they organise as a political group, despite the media, and through collectives, they form a political party, and field their candidate, and take over political power. We should be reminded of the great advise of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the great pan Africans, the first president of Ghana, who advised his people thus, ‗seek ye first the political kingdom, and all the rest shall be added unto you.‘ Africans, Luos, the workers, should seek political kingdoms, for, as Ojijo wrote elsewhere, ‗It ís through politics, that a country‘s affairs are determined‘.
Everyday, in all various social relations, it becomes evident that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, and for class struggles to be correctly fought, there must be groups. It hence behooves every citizen to be a member of a group for full participation and one of the main groups that bring citizens with identical aspirations together are political parties. Do you have a party? The question then is, as a Kenyan, do you have a party? And if you do (not), which part of the struggle will you join and support. As a citizen, do you support immigration and multiculturalism or would rather have the society cramped into their various places of origin? Further, as a property owner, do you think that the property and the distribution of wealth should be subject to control by the community (populism) or the elites (eliticism)? Political issues for party issues for business person As a business person, do you support the advocacy of fair trade over free trade? A mixed economy consisting mainly of private enterprise, but with government owned or subsidised programs of education, healthcare, child care and related services for all citizens/ Government bodies that regulate private enterprise in the ‗interests‘ of workers, consumers and ‗fair competition‘? Still, as a Businessman, would you rather argue for the real values public ownership, social
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There is ‗easy‘ answer form young person, especially in universities, claiming that they ‘hate politics‘…nothing could be more stupid. How can I hate what determines the amount of tax I pay, the fuel price, the land rates, the education fees and interest rates on bank loans. How shallow minded of university students, to reason in such a market-going fashion. We cannot afford to be apolitical.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
equality, trade union rights and democratic liberties, with a foreign policy based on international solidarity between workers of the world, or wars waged for big business profit? Political issues for arty issues for students As a student, do you believe in interests as: grants not fees, smaller class sizes, more contact time with tutors and lecturers, or you can comfortably study in a class of 90 students for 3 hours per week and being given half the fees for you to pay at an 8 percent interest. Political issues for arty issues for individual As an individual, do you believe in doctrines to reduce the excesses of poverty and inequality of the Industrial Revolution and strictu sensu capitalism while being an advocate for reforms such as the egalitarian distribution of wealth and the transformation of society into small communities (collectivist lines), or would you prefer some people owning hundreds of acres and a nation of tem millionaires and ten million beggars.?
As tax payer, would you rather an extensive system of social security, with the stated goal of counteracting the effects of poverty and insuring the citizens against loss of income following illness, unemployment or retirement? Progressive taxation system to fund government expenditure. Do you contend that the conservative administrations have been responsible for far larger budget deficits than any social democratic government? Political issues for arty issues for activists As an activist, do you support social rights, civil rights and civil liberties? Would you go for a secular and progressive social policy, with issues such as gay marriage and abortion rights? Broadened objectives in aspects of environmentalism, feminism, racial equality and multiculturalism? With preference to issues such as Environmental protection laws, such as combating global warming and increasing alternative energy funding. You need a party, I need a party, and we all need a political party.
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Political issues for arty issues for tax payers
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LEFT IS RIGHT
IF I ANSWER YES, THEN I AM A SOCIALIST! Yes! What Am I? When people give their ideological econo-political orientations, what do I say I am? Politics Do I associate myself albeit in varying degrees, with social (as opposed to classical) liberalism? Do I associate with social democracy, socialism, communism, communalism, communitarianism, some forms of populism, anti-colonialism, green politics and most forms of progressivism? Do I advocate for individual sovereignty and the recall provisions of the constitution? Do I believe in racial and gender equality and cultural tolerance? Am I opposed to imperialism, colonialism and war? Do I support movements for national self-determination? Do I believe in compulsory voting for all adults (above 16 years old)?
‗War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means.‘ Indeed, during the first World War, English people would say how immensely British trade would benefit from the destruction of German trade, which was to be one of the principal fruits of their victory. As Chairman Mao taught, we must not love war, but we must be ready to wage just war, wars for limiting, and ultimately eliminating the imperialist aggressions. Am I inspired by a strict adherence to pacifism, and do I believe that war arises from capitalist or imperialist and only the asset owning capitalists will benefit from a war. Do I believe that workers the world over share common interests and we do not need war to advance our interests? Indeed, the Great Lenin opposed the war as imperialist, and part of the driving force of the Russian Revolution was revolt by soldiers against the First World War, epitomized in the slogan taken up by the Bolsheviks: ‗bread, land and peace‘. Indeed, we ought to only support war when it seeks to defeat fascism and entrench democracy and populism this was the case with World War II, and Spanish civil war, and African revolutionary wars that have over the years advanced the interests of the workers. Do I believe that to this extent hence, Vietnam War was a counter culture war, preventing Vietnamese from determining their own political ideology (communism), and
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War All wars are fought over the markets, trade routes and sources of raw materials of rival capitalist groups. Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz , clearly stated on his great military classic, On War, that,
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
seeking to advance the interests of one culture (western), over other cultures (cultureless). Do I believe that the American led war in Iraq is imperialist, that oil and control of the Middle East were the goals? Do I believe that the invasion of Libya was base don business rather than the social justice of Libyans? And that the white capitalists, just found Arab wannabe capitalists to represent the voice of ‗democracy‘ and overrun Ghadhafi?
Social Class, Gender & Sex Differences in social class determined the nature of a society, and the different dispensation of justice to the members of different class. Do I think that the differences in the social class are determined the nature (in access to and control of means of production) of the society (economic determinism). Do I like participating in a broad spectrum of cultural politics advocating for such issues as: anti-racism; affirmative action; feminism; environmentalism; and, ultimately, support for the LGBT civil rights movement. Do I believe in secular and progressive social policy, allowing gay marriage and abortion rights? Racism, religion, tribe and ethnicity is a weapon used by big business to divide the working class. Do I believe that ‗the people ‘are‗ the working classes and that this should be the basis of classification, if at all there were to be any classification? Do I believe that tribe, race and gender have nothing to do with what I can be? After all, I can do NOTHING about these things, so why debate about them. They area fact, and as Ojijo writes in his Book The Gift of E11even Moves to Make Me Wealth ‘, ‗what is a fact is not a problem: a problem is something I can do something about.‘ The working class has no need for religious sectarianism, tribal conflicts, ethnic jingoism, or class stratifications. In 1965, Malcolm X, after his break with the Black Muslims said, ‗the system in this country cannot produce freedom for an AfricanAmerican. I cannot have capitalism without racism.‘ In the last years of his life, Martin Luther King began to move more clearly to seeing the struggle in terms of a struggle of classes. In 1966 he said, ‗The movement to date has done much for the middle class but little for the black underclass. We are dealing with class issues. Something
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Religion Am I generally secular? As a catholic, do I focus upon ‗social justice‘, and as a protestant, do I practice a tradition of Christian Socialism. Would I rather that my Religious movement embraces, like they did in the U.S. civil rights movement, and like Fr. Kaiser did engagement in human rights work. All human beings are driven by ambition of freedom from want, and social justice, through solidarity. To the extent that a religion preaches these, there is no objection in joining it, and to the extent that it does not, there is no objection in limiting our participation. To this end, we should be of open religion, accepting any religion, all over the world, for the purpose of achieving freedom from want, solidarity and social justice, and not for use by ruler to divide and classify the society.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
is wrong with capitalism ... maybe America must move towards democratic socialism.‘ In August 1967, he said ‗the movement must change itself from a reform movement to a revolutionary movement. We must see the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are tied together and I cannot get rid of one without getting rid of the other.‘ And finally, do I believe that legalized abortion and legalized prostitution plays a bigger role in reducing crime, contrasted with the policies of illegalization and criminalization, which have failed since the rimes of Roman dictator Nicolae Ceausescu? Indeed, as Chairman Mao taught, ‗The multiple burdens which women must shoulder are to be eased.‘
Economically, do I support a liberal democracy, representative democracy, private property rights and some degree of free market, as well as high social spending, universal provision of social welfare, some state regulation of the economy and often public ownership of specific means of production (mixed economy)? Do I support workers ownership of the production process, through cooperatives and strong unions? Do I believe some form of government or social intervention in economics is necessary, ranging from Keynesian economics and the welfare state through industrial democracy or the social market to nationalization of the economy and central planning? However, central planning is for the benefit of the masses, and not state capitalism, as in Russia or China today. Do I believe that the means of production should belong in common to mankind and be controlled by them for their own benefit? When this happens, then the principle, ‗from each is best, to each his need‘ will operate. As the Communist Manifesto clearly states, ‗The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles… the working class would be the ‗grave digger‘ of the capitalist class …‘ do I believe in egalitarian distribution of wealth and the transformation of society into small communities (collectivist lines). Do I believe that government bodies should regulate private enterprise in the ‗interests‘ of workers, consumers and ‗fair competition‘ and fair trade as opposed to free trade? Do I believe in massive public works programs to confront the great evil of idleness? Do I support social reform and wealth redistribution through state welfare and taxation policy? Do I support nationalization of major utilities such as mines, gas, coal, electricity, rail, iron and steel, and the National Banks? The electoral politicians of the excommunist, ex-colonialist states sold, at bargain prices, all major industries to foreign or local monopolies, fostering monstrous inequalities and ignoring workers‘ health and employment interests. The Chinese call this market socialism or ‗socialism with Chinese characteristics‘, while Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and his friend, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and call this ‗21st century socialism‘. Friedrich Hayek in his book The Road to Serfdom rightly argues that the social control over distribution of wealth and private property advocated by socialists cannot be achieved without reduced prosperity for the general populace and a loss of
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Economics
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political and economic freedoms. As Wallace D. Wattles writes in his thesis, The Law Of Opulence, ‗I do not have to wear shack cloths, so that you may wear purple linen, I do not have to be poor, so that you may be rich, there is enough to go around.‘ Indeed, do I believe in Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan? In Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State?
Political Violence Do I believe that people should never use violent means to achieve political ends? Do ii agree with Leon Trotsky, who during the ‗propaganda of the deed (strategy by some political group-Narodniks-in Russia to systematically attack the Tsar and his ministers), stated wrote: 'In our eyes, individual terror is inadmissible precisely because it belittles the role of the masses in their own consciousness, reconciles them to their own powerlessness, and turns their eyes and hopes toward a great avenger and liberator who someday will come and accomplish his mission.'§ After all, the capitalists have more guns, and when we defeat the local capitalists, their white brothers who are already docking near the ports, will come in and help. In the 1970s, various left-wing groups sprang up from the social movements of the time, such as Weathermen and the Symbionese Liberation Army in the U.S., the Angry Brigade in the UK, the Baader-Meinhof group in Germany, the Red Brigades in Italy and so on. These groups were impatient with §
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Governance Do I believe in the lowest level of devolution, delegation and representation possible? Through counties, councils, and parishes. Do I support decentralization over centralization of power, decision making and resources. Do I believe in public private partnerships? Émile Durkheim was right, a system of social justice, solidarity and freedom from want, in essence, a socialist system, would bring the state closer to the realm of individual activity as a response to the growing anomie of capitalist society. Syndicalism is against centralization. Small selfrunning units will give the workers greater democratic control over their works, and will decrease alienation. The units are owned by the workers as a cooperative, and all decisions are made by worker-councils. The units will cooperate with each others by means of networks -- no centralized authoritarian control. Interestingly enough, similar ideas of company networks are very popular today among company leaders.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Social Security & Childcare Do I believe that the government should provide social services, including education, basic healthcare, shelter, child care and related services for all citizens? Do I believe that there should be a mandatory pension scheme for all adults, (anyone above 16 years of age)? Do I believe that all children should receive free medical service till age five, irrespective of nature of disease? Do I believe in an extensive system of social security, with the stated goal of counteracting the effects of poverty and insuring the citizens against loss of income following illness, unemployment or retirement? Do I believe in compulsory health, pension, and life schemes for all adults? Women's rights would be truly defended. A free national childcare plan would relieve an enormous stress from families. By stopping this gravy train for the rich, all workplaces, community centers and education centers could have child care facilities available free of use. Shelter Do I believe that the government should build massive public housing schemes, for central housing, and for ease of provision of related utility services? Do I believe that the rural lifestyle should progressively change into rural-townships, and leave the vast rural tracks of land for large scale agriculture? The South Africa the ANC abandoned its partial socialist allegiances on taking power and followed a standard neo-liberal route, and this has led to thousands of calling for popular people's planning and against the marketization of land and housing. Do I believe that massive public works program to rebuild the cities, and provide decent housing and education in the poor rural areas would pay decent living wages and **
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the pace of progress the social movements had achieved. They turned to acts of terrorism in order to either hasten what they deemed progress or in order to shock the populace into dissatisfaction with the status quo. They also considered armed struggle to be necessary from an anti-imperialist view point, targeting in some cases NATO bases or United States military bases in an attempt to oppose the Vietnam War. The actual result of their activities was to divide the left and they failed to inflict serious damage on the ruling classes. Lacking political support, they were eventually dismantled by the state, which enacted for the occasion anti-terrorism legislation to provide it with ‗extraordinary means.‘ ** And the white American, French, Canadian and British bosses have their own ships and troops ready to step in, if the local capitalist failed to contain the rebellious workers, giving ample proof of the willingness of the Capitalist Class to unite when it comes to a showdown. Black workers, take notice, when it is a question of exploitation I Am In the same position as my white brothers. Colour is no safeguard. Black Capitalist are just as brutal as White ones.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Education Do I believe that education system should be based on the natural abilities of the children, and not preconceived notions of culture and pop? Do I believe that children should study for 12 years, and by sixteen years, should be working in their careers? Do I believe that talent identification and professionalization should be the central pillar of education? Do I believe that quality education should be freely available to all who want to study, from the talent identification phase to the specialization phase in colleges and universities? Education cures most societal ills. Do I believe in educational and training programs for unemployed youth, paying them salaries to learn a skill and providing job placement? In 1989, the 18th Congress of the Socialist International at Stockholm adopted a Declaration of Principles which declares that ‗socialism is an international movement for freedom, social justice and solidarity, whose goal it is to achieve a peaceful world where each individual can live a meaningful life with the full development of his or her personality and talents and with the guarantee of human and civil rights in a democratic framework.‘ The ideas of socialism have nothing to do with the former regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, which were not socialist. These were planned economies run by a bureaucracy who developed for themselves the lifestyles of millionaires, and destroyed the workers' democracy which began to develop after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Even so, because of the planned economy, production in the Soviet Union grew six and a half times between 1918 and 1965. As Albert
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full benefits? Will this have slums replaced by decent integrated housing available to all workers, beginning with those with most need? Do I believe that roads, schools, hospitals and community centers could be built, and hence conditions in the inner cities would be transformed? As part of this would be a comprehensive program of training to provide all workers with the necessary skills. Jobs would be provided to those living in the neighborhoods, on a first-come-first-serve basis with employment decided by representatives of the unions and the community to put an end to racist hiring practices. At the same time a national review would take place of the productive resources available to the incoming Labor government. This would lead to policies to reallocate economic resources to provide for the needs of workers in all areas of their lives. The first priority would be to provide food, housing, decent clothing, subsidized fuel, furniture, medical help and other important needs. At the same time resources would be put into making education, retraining, culture, music, sports and other important cultural activity available to everyone. Also, by sharing out work, the workweek could be reduced to 30 hours a week and less. Do I believe in 6 hour work day? Wallace D. Wattles, in his acclaimed Law of Opulence, writes that six hours work BY ALL OF US WHO CAN WORK, will produce all that we need, including luxuries. Everyone needs to work, so long as they are above 12 years old, if not for money, then for experience. But preferably, for both.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Einstein noted in his defense of socialism, ‗educational system should be oriented toward social goals‘. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow-men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society. Do I believe in free education for all children in public schools? Do I believe in combination of education with industrial production?
Foreign Policy Do I believe that the world is actually one place, with different cultures, but which was divided by some white men††, representing capitalist interests, into ‗countries‘ in paper? Do I believe that human being should focus on forming unions, cooperatives, and advancing interests of internationalism, and multiculturalism, and not universalism, and one culture? Do I believe in a multi-polar world, with several world powers, so that there isn‘t a universal, central control of all resources, but there is a check and balance on the actions of superpowers? Do I believe in the doctrine of non-interference in other countries affairs? Do I believe in millitairasion for effective defense against rogue states and non-state actors attacks? Do I support immigration and multiculturalism? Do I support the promotion of democracy, the protection of human rights and effective multilateralism? Do I believe that globalization is a form of ‗neo-colonialism‘ through the IMF, World Bank and other ‗western‘ institutions, backed up by the threat of invasion, destabilization or actual invasion from allied powers, mainly the United States, Britain and France, and whose main effect, is to impoverish the people? This was the case in Libya, and in Ivory Coast, and soon, here. As Chairman Mao taught all who care to listen, ‗The patriotism of a communist nation and an internationalist sympathy for just struggles in other countries are in no way exclusive; on the contrary, they are linked deeply, as communism spreads throughout the world. At the same time, it is important for a country to retain modesty, and shun arrogance.‘ ††
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Nationalism Am I opposed to nationalism? Human beings do not need countries, save on paper. We are the same all over the world, and we have a common interest in achieving freedom from want, and social justice. Nationalism is a device used to get workers to support their masters in peace and war. The Frankfurt Declaration 1951 correctly noted that from the nineteenth century onwards, capitalism has developed immense productive forces, at the cost of excluding the great majority of citizens from influence over production.
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Taxation Do I believe that the moderate to high levels of taxation (through a value-added and/or progressive taxation system) to fund government expenditure. Do I prefer a heavy progressive and graduated income tax? Environment Do I believe in environmental protection laws, such as combating global warming and increasing alternative energy funding? Do I believe in prompting nuclear energy, green energy and electric cars over petroleum fuels? Do I believe in maintaining a 10% forest cover of the country, and of every urban area?
Agriculture Do I believe in promoting large scale agriculture, and application of advanced technologies to enhance output and reduce costs? Do I believe in organic farming and organic farm inputs? Do I believe in reducing subsidies and promoting comparative advantage-based agriculture? Do I support cooperative based agriculture, for equality of opportunity and maximum gain in returns? Robert Owen was right; the transformation of society into small, local collectives without such elaborate systems of social organization is a pipe dream? Do I believe that both tariffs which penalize, and subsidies which encourage foreign trade, and moves by capitalists, to support non-competitive industries, and hence ‗imperfect‘ competition, against the biblical doctrines of comparative advantage as set out by the great Adam Smith. Do I believe in the Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country? Health The health a nation‘s economy depends on the health of the nation‘s people. Do I believe in a national health care program? Do I believe that there should be enhanced scientific infrastructure with research resources to promote scientific advances in biotechnology and medicine? Do I believe in advancement of traditional medicine? Voluntarism Volunteers are the greatest asset a nation can have. Do I believe in the establishment of national volunteer program? Do I believe in the support for creation and
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Exploitation of Commodities (Natural Resources) Do I believe in application of advanced technologies to sustainably and efficiently exploit natural resources?
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Social Networks Social networks, whether professional or for adventure, are important tools for societal progress, and tempering of ill behaviours. Do I believe that creating social capital (i.e. creating networks) will strengthen civil society? Do I believe that social networks will be a bridging for the deepening social divisions? Do I believe that social networks are the fastest avenue for individual growth through group developmental initiatives and sharing of industry news, in a cooperative and non-competitive fashion? Do I believe that social networks will shift the public policy, from social order, to social justice? The greatest and most productive social network is the cooperative movement. Do I believe that producers, workers, generally, should form cooperatives? The basis of socialist ideas is that profit is the unpaid labor of the working class. All the products of society are produced by the labor of workers. Workers produce the wealth. However, ownership of the factories and workplaces is in the hands of big business. The capitalist laws say that because they own the factories, then they can set the rules at the workplace and take the profits. Workers are forced to work for a set wage. However, during each workday, workers produce more value than contained in the wages that are paid them by the bosses. This unpaid labor by workers is called profit, and is expropriated by the capitalist class. This leaves workers producing goods of more value than they receive in wages. Workers are unable to buy back all the goods they produce. Since workers buy over two thirds of all goods in the economy, this inevitably leads to economic recessions and slumps. It was Karl Marx who first understood this and put forward an alternative in his great work, Das Kapital, thus; ‗the alternative is socialism. Since workers produce the wealth, then the workers can run the economy without the capitalist class.‘ This would include the rights of students, parents and school workers to participate in running the schools and colleges. It would also extend workers democratic control of the workplaces. It would also take the newspapers, TV and radio stations, etc. out of the hands of the tiny minority who presently control them. All areas of media would be open to all groups in society that can prove they have support in society. With today's and tomorrow's technology, the population could easily gain access to all, the information they need to participate in decision-making at all levels of society. Bobby Seale, leader of the Black Panther Party said in 1968, ‗We do not fight racism with racism. We fight racism with solidarity. We do not fight capitalism with black capitalism; we fight capitalism with socialism... we should be reminded of Rothschild, the great Jewish banker, who currently controls a sizeable section of the European, and
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operationalisation of a national volunteer corp.? Do I believe in the human philosophy of humanism, and the African philosophy of ubuntu, that I am because we are? Do I believe that the youth of a nation, between 18 to 35 years old, should voluntarily offer their services to serve in their nations armed forces?
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Social Justice All human beings seek to develop. (Armatya Kumar Sen). Do I believe in a society, where ‗justice‘ refers to economic status rather than to the administration of laws? Do I believe in a society which gives individuals and groups fair treatment and a just share of the benefits of society? Do I believe that philanthropy, and charity, is not as effective in promoting social justice, as provision of equal opportunities for all? Do I believe that historical inequities insofar as they affect current injustices should be corrected until the actual inequities no longer exist or have been perceptively ‗negated‘? Do I believe in the redistribution of wealth, power and status for the individual, community and societal good? Do I believe that it is government's (or those who hold significant power) responsibility to ensure a basic quality of life for all its citizens? By the working class coming to power and creating a democratic plan of production, the economy can be taken out of the blind and destructive forces of the market and profit, and directed in a way that best meets the needs of the majority. Karl Marx rightly noted that, ‗Global unionism is the answer to global capitalism.‘ He went on to say, ‗We were meant for a higher destiny, we were never meant to be the lieutenants of capitalism.‘ Do I believe that only a planned economy can deliver social justice? In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child.
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world economy, when he muttered that, ‗give me the control of the nations money, and I do not care who makes its laws.‘ The nation‘s money is controlled by the workers, and the capitalist controls the workers. When the worker controls the process of making money, the production process, then the laws will reflect the ideals of the worker, namely, freedom from want, social justice and ultimate human development. Do I believe that such expanded social networks, through worker organsiation s, will ensure there is work for all, and hence create and expand the working class, and ultimately productivity and production? The Message of the Gita should be reminded to us all, ―No work stains a man who is pure, who is in harmony, who is master of his life, whose soul is one with the soul of all.‖
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
THE MYTH OF THE STUDENT RADICAL
RAWERA MAYOMYOM KWODO WI MIN! The universities have a role to play in the renaissance of Luo community, Africa, and the world. There is a commonly held idea that Universities are a hotbed of activism and socialism but today there is no underlying political or economic interest that unites all students. I would think that poor accommodation; low loans; student poverty and even retroactive university and government policies, would have all students flocking to become socialists but surprisingly this is not the case. We lack socialist (social welfare) policies and initiatives hence we are oppressed and suppressed; we lack an ideology to unite us. We need unity!
However, and interestingly so, an average student attends class for 3-5 hours in a day. What happens to the rest of the day? Where do we go? What do we do? And more importantly, to those who do not know where to go, those of us who came from the village and every mid-semester break we have to go back to the village, where do we learn to know where to go for attachment or even taste of the industry? I believe that Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs)'s work lies in not only in student welfare services but also in social justice campaign initiatives. In Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs)‘s lifetime, much time has been spent arguing about control of the student bars and promise of an increase in photocopiers services (sic). It is incumbent upon University students to take an interest in public affairs since the entire social construct has created in the University a geographical concentration of creativity, intelligentsia and diversity that befits full exploitation in promoting social welfare Ideals. As University students, we must obtain for ourselves an ideology and I propose that we be bound by the idea of „Unity for Social Justice‟; however, the kinds of tactics that win this campaign for social justice must get many students involved. Hence the only way Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) can show the university, the government and any other stakeholder that it means business in representing students‘ interests and promulgating social justice is to show that it has most of the student body behind it. Unity!
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As a student, I am part of hundreds, thousands, millions of other students in this University, brought together with one aim: To Better Our Future.
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We must seek to be united for ‗strength‘ and ‗power‘. Unity as an ideology drives institutions. This united Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) shall be an institution that can negotiate with any stakeholder we engage with; network with NGO world and the corporate society; and build our capacity through attachments, internships and trainings with the industries. A united group can do anything, it is to be feared and recognized; remember the Tower of Babel. This unity shall be realized through the development of social capital (cohesive networks and productive relationships) by strategically involving students at the grassroots in campus through Student Councils hence providing opportunities for students to demonstrate their talents, skills, and interests.
The greatest threat shall therefore be any force of disintegration and/or any disease within us in the form of corrupted student leaders who preach „stoning of cars‟ and similar archaic activities whose continued presence will lead to ultimate redundancy of Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs). To rally students behind this ideology of Unity In Social Justice and communicate this message; to create networks between Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) and the NGO and corporate world; to form linkages with the industry for attachments and internships; to have a strong Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) that is united and can negotiate with the university and other stakeholders, Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) needs a student leader with strong networking, negotiation and advocacy skills. The world and continent of Africa in particular as a country, is turning over a seamless stream of young political leaders, right from high schools, through universities, to political parties. However, the quality of the debates of our young political leaders is intellectually wanting. They address issues with reduced clarity and focus as did the founders of our nations, and the liberators of our new republics.
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It is only through getting involved in struggles both inside and outside the University that students can really make a contribution towards social justice through building links with the working class so that the potential for a proper class struggle movement is created. The best example is what happened in Paris in 1968 with students joining workers in struggle; and what the Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) did in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the Constitutional Reforms in Kenya.
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Their ability to comment on international affairs and global issues is depressingly limited. And whereas there is more opportunity and infrastructure to interact with global leaders, such interaction is waning, and lacks ideological standing. The SLO must teach the young upcoming leaders to answer general questions of nature, logic and rhetoric. What was so important about the Dred Scott decision? Why aren't all Shakespearean comedies necessarily thigh-slappers? What happened inside Plato's cave? What's the difference between a fade-out and a dissolve? Fission and fusion? Shi'ites and Sunnis? The apostles and the disciples? Is postmodernism dead or just having a bad hair day? And for extra credit, how do you tell deduction from induction?
There is need for the new African leader to have an up-to-the-minute analyses of the geopolitical situation in Europe, America, Indochina, and the Horn of Africa; and generally, the global foreign policy template; the latest breakthroughs in cloning and gene splicing; brand-new takes on the economy, from disinflation to global competition; a look at the recent upheavals surrounding abortion rights, free speech, and the death penalty; and much, much more. Further, our young political leaders are well trained in human rights and democratic ideals, but lack foundations basics of the art of statecraft; the knowledge of policy formulation and implementation; the basics of governance and administration; the language and understanding of national, regional and global economic issues; and the basics of political ideologies and campaign management. Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) hence need to establish an institution specialized in nurturing young political leaders to build their knowledge, expand their experiences and broaden their world views to be able to appreciate the global events and how they apply to and affect Africa as a continent. Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) should train the young African political leaders to define and defend the interests of the African continent, and of the various nations. Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) will realise their mission through the political leadership training program, to train leaders on political leadership & public administration essentials; networking students leaders, to connect the young political leaders across the continent for experience sharing and promotion of Pan-
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As stated by Judy Jones and William Wilson in their hit classic, An Incomplete Education, the education system today is truly incomplete for the leader of tomorrow, leave alone today. The SLOs should run a program to train the young political leaders on Cultural Studies, Art History, Economics, Film, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Science, and World History: a bottom line on each of these major disciplines distilled to its essence and served up with consummate flair.
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Africanism; and running the student think tank, a policy program to conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas of global, regional and national social policy, political strategy, economics, military and technology issues and how they affect Africa and African countries. Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) will lead the struggle against the three enemies of all men, the eremites of disease, ignorance and poverty. Unless these three evils are defeated, political freedom would become hollow and meaningless…the motive behind various nationalist movements should always be geared towards the security of all our people, higher standards of living and social advancement.‘ Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) create leaders for the future o countries, and the leaders should learn that African states will not tolerate interference from outside by any country – and that means power blocs that have nothing better to do but fight each other – let them do it outside of Africa As tom Mboya noted, ‗We will never, never sell our freedom for capital or technical aid. We stand for freedom at any cost.‘ Student Leadership Organisations (SLOs) should promote Identity politics, which is political action to advance the interests of members of a group because of a real or supposed shared identity or characteristic (such as race or gender), usually in response to the perception that certain human rights have been denied to them. It is a tactic, to free groups from invidious discrimination, As Carol Hanisch replied in her well-known essay, „The Personal is Political‟. ‗identity-based politics is a source of strength, community, and intellectual development.‘ Bringing party politics to universities It is important for the leadership qualities of the university student leader to reflect statesman ship, after all, an increasingly higher percentage of student leaders end up being statesmen and politicians. Indeed, most university student‘s leader‘s end up shaping polices of the countries, under political parties, so, why not run for office in universities as parties. After all, there is no law against the same. This will so make sure that the ear while great student leers with excellent leadership qualities can access party resources and caging effectively to represent the students. This also introduce she student leaders o ideological issues, making hem, transforming them into global and regional leaders, and truly national statesmen nod women.
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Students to promote Identity politics
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Celebrating heroes and heroins! It is upon the university student to keep the history alive, and project a brighter future. Universities, as centers of research, indeed were founded by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and it was a place of ‗dialogue‘. Which dialogue cost Socrates his life, but developed great tools for intellectual and logical rezoning, the Socratic methods, and led to founding of the fist institutions of higher learning in the western world, the academia, the university.
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It is upon the university students, to compile and keep a lies of great mean adwomen of the nation, for the purposes of inspiration, records and value system formulation. This will be a true rendition of the history of the country, after all, people like JM Kariuki, Matthau Angara, and the rest, are likely Togo to oblivion. Indeed, leaving it o the leaders, makes it very rarely that heroes are recognised when it maters. IMMEDIATELY.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
THE GHOST OF PROF. H.W.O OKOTH-OGENDO
In the last century, Professor Okoth-Ogendo, H. W. O wrote in his classical masterpiece, Constitutions Without Constitutionalism, that ‗African ruling elites are attracted relentlessly to the idea of constitutions… missing the noble idea of constitutionalism.‘ He added that, ‗the exercise of state power must seek to advance the ends of society, and that the country that satisfies that rule is a country that has a culture of constitutionalism; thus he defined constitutionalism.‘ CONSTITUTIONS WITHOUT CONSTITUTIONALISM!
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. When these principles are written down into a single or set of legal documents, those documents are called a written constitution. The constitution will often state that the Constitution is the supreme law and shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the country.‘ Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution. Acts that are not in accordance with the rules laid down in the constitution are deemed to be ultra vires. Constitution states that, If any other law or any custom is inconsistent with any of the provisions of the Constitution, the Constitution shall prevail, and that other law or custom shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. Constitutionalism, on the other hand, is the system of governance where the governing organs operate to advance the interests of the people. To do this, government ought be based on popular consent of the governed arising out of the citizens ‗social contract‘ to live together out of which we form a government and give it power to protect our lives and property and advance our interests under a grundnorm. The exercise of state power must be beyond mere acts in accordance to the constitution, that is, constitutionality, but betray fidelity to advance the ends of society. This is the essence of constitutionalism which branches republicanism from fascism; departs ‗might from right‘ and pillars modern constitutional republicanism. Hence, constitutionalism is not just about applying the written constitution (which is constitutionality), but making sure that the contents of the
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Differentiating Constitution, Constitutionality & Constitutionalism
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written constitution advances the interests of the people, and then applying the contents to actually advance those interests. The Principles of Constitutionalism Various scholars, including Ray, Oloka-Onyango, Walubiri and Johari, have labored to state the essentials of constitutionalism. These have been crystallized into five core principles which lead to an a system of political rules that bind political rulers and citizens; a culture of meeting peoples choices; a political order governed by rules and regulations‡‡; and a political order that determines validity of executive and legislative promulgations. The five principles are principles of sovereignty; devolution; rule of law; separation of powers; and checks and balances which ought to be practiced to render republicanism credential. This article will analyze to what extent Uganda‘s constitution and governance actions have kept solidarity with the above five core principles of constitutionalism. The principle of sovereignty reposes the final authority in government on the people as the only authority on which government has a right to exist in any country. It is the bedrock of republicanism and the cornerstone of participatory politics, ‗government of the people, by the people and for the people‘. The people take part in governance through (in) direct exercise of sovereignty, by electing public officials in a representative government. It is enshrined in constitution which states all power belongs to the people who shall exercise their sovereignty in accordance with this Constitution. Further, the constitution provides for realization of sovereignty through ‗regular, free and fair elections of their representatives or through referenda.‘ This also means that there should be a recall vote, to ensure that a representative who is not doing the biding of the people can be recalled. In wide variance with the above, the elections have been regular but far from being free and fair. African elections have been mired with vote rigging, vote buying, violence by the government on the people through security agencies and the stifling of voices that try to talk, through walk to work campaigns, or other such avenues. To this extent, people‘s voices have never been heard. Also, the buying of votes kills the element of free choice. 2. The Rule of Law The rule of law principle recognizes that the government has extensive powers and hence the need for agencies and officials to operate within the dictates of law. These principles are threesome, namely, rule by regular law which prohibits ‡‡
Supra note 16 above
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1. Sovereignty
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discretionary actions in the administration of justice which states that the constitution is the supreme law and other laws must be derived from it); equality before the law, which brings both governed and governors under the law which states that, ‗All persons are equal before and under the law in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life and in every other respect and shall enjoy equal protection of the law‘); and guarantee and protection of individual rights both as entitlements and freedoms which provides for, ‗Protection and promotion of fundamental and other human rights and freedoms‘). This third pillar also requires the empowerment of the citizen to enforce his rights in the courts of law or likeinstitutions. The courts are ably established by the judiciary. However, despite the pronunciation of the rule of law in the constitution, the situation is dire on the ground. There are the major challenges to the rule of law in Africa as corruption, a lack of independent institutions; and insufficient budget and human rights abuses by security agents. Indeed a history of constitutional abrogation, and the thorough intimidation and capitulation of both the legislature and the judiciary.
The principle of devolution recognizes citizens as the founders of the nation and their right to manage own local affairs through participation in public affairs. Devolution hence renders devolved units independent in control over finances, administration (of justice) and legislation while guaranteeing equitable sharing of national resources. Devolution should seek to promote the interests and rights of minorities and marginalized groups; and promotes social and economic development through proximate provision of services. While decentralization involves the shifting of implementation rather than power away from the centre, devolution goes further and involves the downwards transfer of full responsibility for the provision and delivery of public services to the lowest level of governance capable of these tasks. In African countries, this is the local authority and District Councils. African countries should be very well decentralized. Thoreau rightly noted centuries past that, " government is best which governs least" 4. Separation of Powers The government carries out three major tasks, being legislation; design and implementation of polices; and resolution of disputes. The principle of separation of powers provides for the division of the national government into three
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3. Devolution
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branches to avoid abuse of powers: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial to make the law; implement the law and solve disputes arising respectively. Constitutions provide that judicial power is derived from the people, and shall be exercised by Courts in fulfillment of the people's aspirations. Various African presidents have disobeyed the Court Orders granting bail to the certain political prisoners, not only abrogating the Constitution but also totally violating the principles and doctrine of separation of powers. In many countries, the Executive appoints Judges, subject to the approval of the legislature. The legislature enacts laws that define the jurisdiction and structure of the courts. In spite of these overlaps, the Constitution o reiterates that: ‗In the exercise of Judicial Power, the courts shall be independent and shall not be subject to the control or direction of any person or authority.‘ Parliament should not be dissolved. The Judges, and other sensitive offices, need to have security of tenure, fixed term of office, and a well set out retirement age.
The principle of checks and balances seeks to give each arm of the government and the citizens the power to hold the various arms of government accountable. The courts ensure that all actions by executive and parliament are constitutional. The parliament holds the Prime Minister and Head of state accountable through, inter alia, threat of vote of no confidence or impeachment, accountability committees and ratification of treatises and appointments by the executive. The national assembly is also checked by the senate to nib dictatorship by the majority. The executive also checks parliament through veto powers. Parliament also has powers to vet Presidential appointments and even has powers to impeach a President. the constitution of most African countries enable the executive to function without being checked at every turn. The presidents continue to combine a wide range of powers. They are at once the head of state and head of government, commander in chief and part of the parliament. They appoint a wide range of officials, including ministers and the vice president who, together, constitute the cabinet. The executives in most countries publicly attacked the work of the judiciary during the reporting period. Some presidents even reject constitutional court rulings. Constitutionalism is a culture, and it must be both present in the document, and lived in the application of governance. Africa faces successes and challenges for her constitutional undertakings. Dialogue amongst all Africans must continue to ensure that the three organs of the state are strengthened and that mechanisms for enabling independent and effective functioning of each one of them are not eroded.
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5. The Principle Of Checks And Balances
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Appendices THE LUO NATION (ORIGIN & HISTORY OF 15 LANGUAGE GROUPS) Luos, like the French, practiced the culture of assimilation; hence the Luo Nation constantly assimilated other tribes in their migration, chiefly being the Lang‘i in Uganda, the Alur in Uganda/Congo, and the Abasuba in Kenya. The Lwo is Indigenously African, and in the African continent, there are four Indigenous language groups, namely Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan. The Lwo Group of languages, transliterated also as Luo Group of languages, falls under one of the four indigenously African languages with the others being the Nilo-Saharan language group, with the other three being Afro-Asiatic, NigerCongo, and Khoisan.
The Nilo Saharan languages were further divided into four subfamilies, namely: Central Sudanic languages (a family of about thirty languages spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), and Cameroon); Kunama languages (spoken by the Kunama people who straddle the western Eritrean-Ethiopian border, with several dialects including: Barka. Marda, Aimara, Odasa, Tika, Lakatakura, Ilit, Bitama, Sokodasa, Takazze-Selit, and Tigray); Berta languages (spoken by the Berta (or Bertha) in Sudan and Ethiopia, with several dialects (some quite divergent) including: Bake, Dabuso, Fadashi, Gebeto, Mayu, Shuru, and Undu); and Eastern Sudanic languages. According to the Nubian and Merotic Scripts, the Eastern Sudanic languages were spoken from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania; they are some of the earliest written attestations of African languages; and the largest branch by far is Nilotes spread by extensive and comparatively recent conquests throughout East Africa. The name ‗East Sudanic‘ refers to the eastern part of the region of Sudan where the country of Sudan is located. Within Eastern Sudanic Languages are three sub-branches, designated as ‗Western,‘ ‗Eastern,‘ and ‗Southern.‘ Note that the labels refer to linguistic groupings, and
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Deductively, Luo Group falls under Nilo-Saharan. These are the languages that were spoken in the watersheds of the Chari (main tributary of Lake Chad) and Nile Rivers, and in the area between them. The Luos have since been called River-Lake Nilotes, because of this origin.
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not primarily to geographical distribution, though there is a rough geographical reality to the terms. The Eastern Nilotic languages are spoken across a large area in East Africa, ranging from Equatoria to the highlands of Tanzania. Their speakers are mostly cattle herders living in semi-arid or arid plains. They include Lang‘i, Bari, Teso, amongst other languages, forming the Iteker language group. Over time, the lango and Bari have been absorbed into the Western Nilotes and they speak and have the culture of the Lwos of the greater Western Nilotes Group. The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya, northern Tanzania and Eastern Ugandan. They are generally divided into two groups, The Kalenjin Group of languages, and the Omotik-Datooga.
The Luo, often transliterated as Lwo, are further sub-classified into two branches; the northern and southern Luos. The Northern Luos are all based in Sudan and they include Anuak, Belanda Bor, JurChol, Collo/Shilluk, Thuri, and Päri. The Southern Luos reside in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, and they include Padhola, Acholi, and JoLuo of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania). The other group of languages forming part of the Luo Family of languages and hence the Luo Nation are the languages which have been absorbed due to long history of intermarriages, conflict, war, conquest and other such factors. They include the Suba of South Nyanza, Kenya, the Lango of Uganda, the Alur of DRC and the Bari of Sudan. Note, however, that some Nilotic groups had intensive contact with Cushitic (Afro-Asiatic) peoples, and with Niger-Congo peoples. This has resulted in
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The Western Nilotic languages are spoken in an area ranging from southwestern Ethiopia and southern Sudan via northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Uganda to southwestern Kenya and extending into northern Tanzania. They are divided in two main clusters: Dinka-Nuer, (which includes the Nuer, Reel (Atuot) and Dinka) and Luo or Lwo.
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mutual cultural and linguistic impact across Nilotic, Cushitic, and Niger-Congo language families. An example is Jonam, which is a dialect from the parent language, Alur, which is spoken in Uganda and DRC Also, a number of small ethnic groups have been, and continue to be, absorbed into larger Nilotic language groups. For instance, the Suba, who were an offshoot of Bantus, related to the Kuria, have slowly been absorbed by the Luos of Kenya and today speak and have the culture of the Luos in South Nyanza, Kenya. Again, the Langi/Lango as language group have also been absorbed and today consider themselves more Luo than iteker, which is their maternal language group, together with the Teso. Another Nilo-Hamitic group which has since been absorbed into the Luo culture is the Bari people.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
Anuak Belanda Bor Jur-Chol Collo/Shilluk Thuri Kuman Päri Padhola Acholi JoLuo Suba Langi Jonam Bari Alur
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The Luo Nation is hence today made up of 14 language groups occupying the ancestral land from Sudan through Uganda to Tanzania and across from Kenya to DRC. In summary, the language groups are:
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THE LUO PHILOSOPHY OF OD WADU
In the book, The Gift of e11even Moves to Make Me Wealthy, the author Ojijo, outlines a deeper meaning of Od Wadu, when he writes that Od Wadu and ubuntu are but one. Teaching the same knowledge. Od Wadu is in giving the last serving to my guests. Od Wadu is the woman who gives me a glass of water, unprompted, because she senses I may be thirsty. Od Wadu is in the eyes of the children, playing with one another, even though they may not speak the same language, indeed, they may not speak any language at all. Od Wadu is in digging into the bottom of my pocket to give, even when I have nothing to live on but my smile. Od Wadu is the old man on the corner, who gives away the wood he was whittling as a gift, because he enjoys the act of giving. Od Wadu is that spirit inside me that says, ‗I am at my best and most human when my life serves others.‘ Od Wadu is unchangeable and informs thought and action. Od Wadu does not address the individual is a social unit, possessing inalienable rights, and driven by the pursuit of self interest. In Od Wadu, a community is the basic social unit. Concepts such as individualism, freedom of choice, and equality are absent. It is recognized that the community always comes first. Od Wadu is a judicial practice, which guides dispute resolution, acts such as the use of 'mato put', to address those who commit grievous wrongs, mainly health, of fellow community members. the same institution is likened to Gachacha courts amongst the Luo-Related Bahima dynasty of Nyarwanda peoples of Rwanda. Od Wadu as a philosophy of justice is based on restorative justice, whereby parties with a stake in a specific offence resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future. The aim is offender accountability, reparation to the victim and full participation by all those involved. These attempts to repair the damage re-establish dignity and reintegrate those who were harmed or alienated by the offence. It is based on the
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Od Wadu is the culture and style of the luos-our lifestyle‘. Od Wadu is the politics and governance of the luos- our system; Od Wadu is the philosophy of the luos. Od Wadu literally means ‗your kin‘s house‘. As a way of life, it enjoins the individual to look after his neighbor‘s house (interests) as if they were his own house and interest. Od Wadu hence means that my neighbor‘s house is my house. This is the philosophy which the Bantu language group Africa calls Ubuntu. It means humanity. The truism that ‗I am because you are‘. Amongst the Spanish speaking cultures, they say, Mi casa es su casa, to mean, my house is your house, in other words welcome to my house and feel free. Od Wadu, or if you want, ubuntu, is about humanism. It recognizes that we are but one people. That all Luos were one people. ‗And mankind is naught but a single nation‘, even the Quran teaches.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
assumption that within society a certain balance and respect exists, which can be harmed by crime. The purpose of the justice system is then to restore the balance and to heal the relationships. It is not so much about punishment but about healing the wounds caused by crime and repairing the relationships that have broken down. It enables all the parties to the crime (victim, offender and affected members of the community) to be directly involved in responding to it with the State and legal professionals playing the role of facilitators. The Luo community, and its legal systems) is family based, linked together in clans and ruled by chiefs who consulted senior members of the community in all matters of consequence38 and were obliged to always act in the interests of the collective. Decision-making was characterized by lengthy deliberation with consensus reached through negotiation rather than voting.
Od Wadu philosophy is also an economic philosophy, best viewed in the communal psychology of the Luo, like most African countries, s inherent in the communal use of land and the need for a joint effort in any undertaking. The social structure of Luo society was constituted in the framework of relationships between the members of a community. This was manifested in an ordered group life, with reciprocal rights and duties, privileges and obligations, determining behaviour patterns for each individual member towards other members, and of molding of feelings, thoughts, and conduct of members according to this pattern. Only in and through them can the individual achieve personal self-realization and participate in the satisfactions offered by the life of his or her community. the system of Luo social and ethical values answered perfectly all the requirements of its social structure and organisation. It assured the formation of a person who could become a suitable member of the Luo community, would ‗honour the chief and tribal custom, respect those older than himself, value those things which are of value to the society, and observe tribal taboos.‘ It is not surprising that ‗the Od Wadu practice stipulates that the person is expected to surrender to the cultural norms set forth in society. This is a package deal.‘ The ‗communal system‘ of the Luo is largely the manifestation of [the] close bond of solidarity and reciprocity arising out of kinship and affecting well-nigh every
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Od Wadu finds camaraderie in other cultures, going with other names such as ‗micasa es su casa', amongst the Spanish cultures; 'wa nyumba' amongst the kikuyu and Meru communities in Kenya; ubuntu amongst the greater bantu community in Africa; utu amongst the waswahili, in African coast of east Africa, running from Djibouti to south Africa. Indeed, the ideas of Od Wadu, just like ubuntuism, are refrelected in the Russian obschina philosophy as espoused Khomyakov, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. Most cultures uphold the principle that all humans are equal in their humanity. From this flows the idea of social justice as giving to the other what is due to them. In practice this means, accordingly, equal and nondiscriminatory treatment to equal cases.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
aspect of daily life‘ It was a unity of kin; those not explicitly included were therefore implicitly excluded. It was patriarchal in nature, very hierarchical and highly discriminatory. Everything that anyone did was determined by his or her position within the complex network of relationships with its inflexible set of obligations and taboos. It was not completely homogeneous or harmonious. The class system flourished, even within what was in effect an extended family. Some were more equal than others. Od Wadu makes it possible for considerable homogeneity and stability of standards, values, and roles, a person could feel quite comfortable, secure and even happy. This was possible because one identifies with one‘s position in the structure of socially sanctioned roles and therefore one‘s self-image corresponds to the image that others have of one. One‘s self-respect and respect had from others was a function of one‘s roles. Such a person would lack neither integration nor selfrealization, since the very self (including expectations, aspirations, and lifeproject) is given unambiguously by one‘s social location. But there was also a possibility of such social relations becoming like a spider‘s web: suffocating, oppressive, precluding the survival of any free, revolutionary, critical spirit.
Spiritually, Od Wadu states that all life is protected by the supernatural forces. Resort to these latter forces constitutes the basis of African law. Communal life can hardly be protective if it is both by definition and intent designed to eliminate whatever method or means of protection. Their determination seeks to restore harmony and promote the maintenance of peace. Justice as the restoration of equilibrium is a central element of the Od Wadu philosophy of law. This determination by the supernatural forces is consistent with the metaphysics of Od Wadu law. This consists in a triadic structure of the living, the living dead (the supernatural forces) and the yet-to-be-born. Od Wadu is flexible, unformalised, reasonable and linked to morality. The flexibility of Od Wadu law speaks to the idea that it is law without a center. This is because Od Wadu philosophy holds that being is one continuous wholeness rather than a finite whole. On this reasoning, the individual subject cannot be the center of the law. The community is. The community is more important, then the individual, and yet, the community cannot exists without individual, hence, the community and the individual is one. Od Wadu, my house is your house!
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Under Od Wadu, discipline and authority, economic duties, legal affiliations, and control play a determining part in the conduct and attitudes of the individuals, creating an atmosphere of repression and intolerance, in which protest often entailed social ostracism and even violence.
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Personal Development is the greatest form of investment I can ever make. It involves engaging in activities which enable me to identify and develop my talents and skills to realize my potential; and set and achieve my goals and dreams so as to enhance the quality of my life and contribute to my people and my community. The first step is to acquire knowledge, either through the people I meet, or the books I read. However, just as the bible warns that, ‗bad company spoils good morals‘, so is reading and not applying counterproductive. Indeed, just as the Quran advises that, ‗next to knowledge must come action,‘ the positive results will only come from daily application of the lessons and strategies. As I read the below select list of classics, I will focus on applying what I have learned in the books I have already read. The Buddhists are right, ‗to know, and not to use, is not yet to know‘.
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222 BOOKS-2-READ (PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT)
The 222 Books 1. Abraham Lincoln. Gettysburg Address 2. Anton LaVey. The Satanic Bible (Satanism) 3. Anonymous. Beowulf 4. Anonymous. Arabian Nights-Thousand Nights and One Night – ‗alf layla wa-layla„ tr. Malcolm C. Lyons, Ursula Lyons & Robert Irwin. 5. Aristotle. Rhetoric 6. Aldous Huxley. Brave New World 7. Agatha Christie. And Then There Were None 8. Abraham Maslow. A Theory of Human Motivation (Paper) in (Motivation and Personality (Book)) 9. A.J.P. Taylor. The Origins of the Second World War 10. Adolf Hitler. My Struggle (Mein Kampf) 11. Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics 12. Adam Smith. An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes of The Wealth of Nations 13. Angelo D‘Amico. Talk the Talk 14. Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir. The Complete Sherlock Holmes 15. Alvin Toffler. The Third Wave (1980) 16. Alfred Marshall. Principles of Economics 17. Ben Carson. 18. _Gifted Hands 19. _Think Big 20. Bertrand Russell. Ideas that Have Harmed Mankind 21. Benjamin Graham. The Intelligent Investor 22. Bevin Alexander. How Wars Are Won: The 13 Rules of War from Ancient Greece to the War on Terror 23. Booker T. Washington. Up From Slavery 24. Buck Hedges. The Parable of The Pipeline 25. Brian Tracy. Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed 26. Bob Proctor. You Were Born Rich 27. Gen. Carl von Clausewitz. On War 28. Carol Hanisch. The Personal is Political 29. Carl Shapiro & Hal R Varian. Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy 30. Charles Haneel. The Master Key System 31. Charles Darwin. The Origin of Species 32. Che Guevara. The Diary of Che Guevara 33. Chinua Achebe. (The African Trilogy) 34. _Arrow of God 35. _Things Fall Apart 36. _ No Longer at Ease 37. C. S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) 38. Charles Dickens. The Complete Literary Works of Charles Dickens. 39. _Oliver Twist 40. _Christmas Carol 41. _Great Expectations
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42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76.
77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87.
_A Tale of Two Cities Confucius. The Analects of Confucius tr. William Edward Soothill Dato Vejay Eshiwanaran. In The Sphere of Silence Dan Brown. The Da Vinci Code Dan Smith. The State of the World Atlas Daniel Goldman. Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ Daniel G. Amen. Magnificent Mind at any Age Daniel Coyle. Talent Code David Schwartz. The Magic of Thinking Big David Ricardo. Principles of Political Economy and Taxation Donald Trump. The Art of the Deal Dale Carnegie. _How To Win Friends and Influence People _The Art of Public Speaking David L. Feinstein. Develop Your Financial Intelligence David Bach. Smart Couples Finish Rich David Allen. Getting Things Done (GTD) Dick Richards. Is Your Genius at Work?: 4 Key Questions to Ask Before Your Next Career Move D.H. Lawrence. Lady Chatterley‘s Lover Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy Elbert Hubbard. A Message to Garcia Edward Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward DeBono. The Six Thinking Hats Eckhart Tolle. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment Elaine Wolstencroft. Talent Identification and Development: An Academic Review Esther Hicks. Money and the Law of Attraction Fidel Castro. History Will Absolve Me! Frantz Fanon: The Wretched of the Earth. tr. by Constance Farrington Franklin D. Roosevelt. Infamy Speech Fausto Reinaga. La Revolución India. George S. Clason. The Richest Man in Babylon Garrett Hardin. Tragedy of the Commons George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair). (Orwellian Duo) _Animal Farm _Nineteen Eighty Four Giulio Douhet. The Command of the Air Huston Smith. The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions Henry David Thoreau. Civil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government) Homer. The Iliad & The Odyssey HH Dalai Lama. The Art Of Happiness Harry Lorayne. The Memory Book Henry Hazlitt. Economics in One Lesson Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom‘s Cabin (Life Among the Lowly) Ian Gordon. Looking for a Rain God and Other Short Stories Immanuel Kant. Critique of Pure Reason
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88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126.
Igor Ansoff. Corporate Strategy: An Analytic Approach to Business Policy for Growth and Expansion John Stuart Mill. Principles of Political Economy John C. Maxwell. (Leadership Dual Series) _Developing the Leader within You _21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership John Bowker. World Religions: The Great Faiths Explored & Explained John Bunyan. The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come John C. Bogle. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns John Maynard Keynes. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Social Contract John Assaraf. The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life Jim Rohn. 7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness: Power Ideas from America's Foremost Business Philosopher Jack Canfield. The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be Jared Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies John Middleton. The Ultimate Strategy Library: The 50 Most Influential Strategic Ideas of All Time James D. Watson. The Double Helix James Allen. As A Man Thinketh Joe Knight. Business Financial Intelligence John Medina. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School Johnston McCulley. The Mark of Zorro Josemaría Escrivá. The Way Joseph Schumpeter. The Theory of Economic Development John Cleland. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (a.k.a. Fanny Hill) John Locke. Two Treatises of Government Joe Vitale. Zero Limit John Milton. Paradise Lost J.K. Rowling. The Harry Potter Series J.R.R. Tolkein. Lord Of The Rings Judy Jones. An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't James Joyce. Ulysses John Stuart Mill. On Liberty (In Collected Works of John Stuart Mill) Karl Albrecht. Brain Power: Learn to Develop Your Thinking Skills Karl Marx. Das Kapital Karl Marx. The Communist Manifesto Kahlil Gibran. The Prophet Kenichi Ohmae. The Mind of the Strategist (1982) Kenneth Blanchard. The One Minute Manager Kenneth Blanchard. Leadership & The One Minute Manager Les Brown. Live Your Dreams
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127. 128. 129. 130. 131.
132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 145. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 151. 152. 153. 154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168.
Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching Louis O. Kelso. The Capitalist Manifesto Mahan. A. T. The Influence Of Sea Power Upon History (1660-1783) M. R. Kopmeyer. Here‘s Help! Mallanaga Vatsyayana. The Kama Sutra. tr. Richard Burton [1883] Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton. Now, Discover Your Strengths Michael Michalko. Cracking Creativity (The Secrets Of Creative Genius) Mao Zedong. Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. ‗The Little Red Book‘ Mario Puzo. The Godfather Manuel Castells. The Information Age Series, Volumes 1-3: Economy, Society and Culture Mike Murdock. Secrets of the Richest Man Who Ever Lived Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Marcus Garvey. First Message to the Negroes of the World From Atlanta Prison Malcolm Gladwell. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Margaret A Ogola. The River and the Source Mary Renault. Alexander Trilogy Maxwell Maltz. Psychocybernetics Mike Litman. Conversations With Millionaires Michael Fisher. Saving and Investing: Financial Knowledge and Financial Literacy that Everyone Needs and Deserves to Have! Michael E. Porter. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors Martin Luther King Jnr. I Have A Dream! Martin Meredith. The State of Africa Maya Angelou. _I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings _Still I Rise _Phenomenal Woman Muhammad Ibn Muhammad al-Nafzawi. The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight (Ancient Arabic Sex Manual and Short Stories for Men and Women) tr. Jim Colville Marilyn vos Savant. Brain Building in Just 12 Weeks Nicollo Machaivelli. The Prince (1513). Noah J. Goldstein. Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive Neil Fiore. The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. _Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) _Wizard of the Crow _ Matigari Napoleon Hill. _Think & Grow Rich _ The Law of Success Norman Vincent Peale. The Power of Positive Thinking Og Mandino. The Greatest Salesman in the World Okot p'Bitek. Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol Orlando Figes. A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1917-24
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169. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182. 183. 184. 185. 186. 187. 188. 189. 190. 191. 192. 193. 194. 195. 196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207. 208. 209. 210.
Ojijo. _ Talanta: Ojijo‘s Guide to Identifying, Developing & Selling My Talent & My Career Skills _Making My Child Financially Intelligent: Money Lessons by Age Group (from 4-16 yrs) _Invest: Ojijo‘s Guide to Financial Instruments & Alternative Investment Vehicles _Sell Something: Ojijo‘s Entrepreneurship & Raising Capital Guide _I Am A Network Marketer: Ojijo‘s Network Marketing Guide _Making Money Together: Ojijo‘s Investment Club Manual _The Gift of E11even Moves to Make Me Wealthy _Old, Broke & Bored? Plan 2 Retire Happy _My Body - Common Medical Conditions by Organ, Symptoms, Causes, Prevention and Cure (Alternative & Medical) _General Principles of Law (Presumptions, Doctrines, Maxims, Rules & Tests) _Tuongee Kiswahili Conversational Phrasebook (with Audio CDs & DVDs) _Politics of Poverty: The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! _Fireplace Stories: Ojijo‘s Quotes & Performance Poems _Policy & Legal Issues in e-Commerce & e-Governance _Open Religion: My Religion is the Best Religion _Seventy-7 Moves of a Sexy Woman _99 Ways to Make People Laugh _The Two Spiders _The Right to Money _The Wisdom of Climbing Mountains _ So! Do You Have A Party? _ Left is Right! Paul Joannides. Guide to Getting It On! Patricia Schultz. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die Peter F. Drucker. The Practice of Management Peter Wright. Spycatcher Peter J. D‘Adamo. Eat Right 4 Your Type: The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer & Achieving Your Ideal Weight Plato. The Republic Praise George. Mastering Money Plutarch. Parallel Lives Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dreams Richard Dawkins. The God Delusion Rosann L. Spiro. Management of a Sales Force Robert T. Kiyosaki. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About MoneyThat the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not! Robert T. Kiyosaki. Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom Richard Koch. The 80/20 Principle-The Secret To Success By Achieving More With Less Russell H. Conwell. Acres of Diamonds Ralph and Terry Kovel. Kovels' Guide To Selling, Buying And Fixing My Antiques And Collectibles Rodgers Mutama. Family Business Governance: How to Start & Run A Successful Family Business Robert Kaplan & David Norton. The Balanced Scorecard Richard A.Posner. Economic Analysis of Law
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211. 212. 213. 214. 215. 216. 217. 218. 219. 220. 221. 222. 223. 224. 225. 226. 227. 229. 230. 231. 232. 233. 234. 235. 236. 237. 238. 239. 240. 241. 242. 243. 244. 245. 246. 247. 248. 249. 250. 251. 252. 253. 254.
Rhonda Byrne. The Secret ( &The Secret Movie) Ragnar Redbeard. Might Is Right (The Survival of the Fittest) Roger Fisher. Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In Rick Warren. The Purpose Driven Life Robert Greene. (The Green Triology) _The 48 Laws of Power _The 33 Strategies of War _The Art of Seduction Robert Cialdini. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robin Sharma. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny Rudyard Kipling. The Jungle Book Rosalie Maggio. The Art of Talking to Anyone: Essential People Skills for Success in Any Situation Ronald Coase. _The Nature of the Firm _The Problem of Social Cost Roger Dawson. Secrets of Power Negotiating Robert Frost. The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged Said Ahmed Mohamed. Amezidi Shaaban bin Robert. Kusadikika Steven Levitt. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Seth Godin. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit Salman Rushdie. The Satanic Verses Steve Chandler. 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself Sandy Botkin. Lower Your Taxes - Big Time Sun Tzu. The Art of War Samuel Smiles. Self-Help Stephen R. Covey. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Steven Runciman. A History of the Crusades Simon Schama. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars: Lives of the Caesars Tony Robbins. Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! Thomas Sankara. Thomas Sankara Speaks. The Burkina Faso Revolution Theodore Bryant. Self-Discipline in 10 Days: How to Go from Thinking to Doing Thomas Malthus.R. An Essay on the Principle of Population Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan Thomas Stewart. Intellectual Capital Thomas Paine. (Thomas Paine Collection) _Common Sense _Rights of Man _Age of Reason The Bible (Christianity) The Qur'an (Islam) The Bhagavad-Gita (Buddhism)
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269. 270.
The Kitab-i-Aqdas (Bahá'í Faith) The Tanakh/Torah (Jews/Judaism) The Vedas (Hinduism) The Canon of Scientology (Scientology) The Kebra Nagast and the Holy Piby (Rastafarian) UNESCO. General History of Africa (GHA). Ed. Prof. B. Grace Ogot, et al. Friedrich Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. Vladimir Lenin. What Is To Be Done? Voltaire. Candide Wallace D. Wattles. The Science of Getting Rich (& The Law of Opulence Audio-Part I-III) Wole Soyinka. The Lion and the Jewel William Shakespeare. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare tr. by W. J. Craig William J. Rothwell and H. C. Kazanas. The Strategic Development of Talent Zig ‗Hilary Hinton‗Ziglar _Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale _ See You at the Top
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255. 256. 257. 258. 259. 260. 261. 262. 263. 264. 265. 266. 267. 268.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Fireplace Stories is Ojijo‘s performance poetry & quotes collection. It has various thoughts, quotes and writings by Ojijo, reflected in poetry, and useful for teaching, leisure and entertainement.
Ojijo, the author Ojijo is AHA Volunteer (Africans Helping Africans Initiative-www.ahainitiative.net); public speaker & trainer on financial literacy, personal (talent & career) development & political leadership (www.allpublicspeakers.com); e-commerce & e-governance lawyer & lecturer (www.alrecgroup.com); author of 19 books on religion, sexuality, poetry, politics, economics, medicine, law, history, entrepreneurship, network marketing, retirement planning, languages (Swahili & Luo), financial literacy, investing, personal (talent & career) development; founder & team leader at InformedInvestors , a socialfranchise-enterprise promoting financial literacy, personal (talent & career) development and African volunteerism (www.informedinvestors.biz); social entrepreneur; performance poet; believer in open religion; and a socialist.
Retail Price: UGX 10,000/ TZ. Shillings 7,500/ Kshs. 400/ USD 5.99 S ECOND REVISED & E XPANDED E DITION , 2011
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Ojijo is a bunch of solutions from Homa-Bay County, Kenya.
Politics of Poverty! Ojijo
Page 168 Politics of Poverty - The Odinga Family Curse to the Luos! Ojijo
…maybe Raila owes the Luo nothing, after all, he is half-Luo!
