A Party for Mandela and so on...

Isn't it interesting that the grand old man of African liberation struggle is having a party thrown for him in London (a city, I am informed by the western press, he loves to bits) while the same British are busy demonising another hero of that struggle in Zimbabwe. The so-called leaders of the 'free world' have not resolved Darfur though there's been a lot of noise about that. Many more people have died and seem to be dying daily in Darfur than in Zimbabwe (the difference of course is that no white - read, British - farmer has been evicted yet from Darfur). The story of the Zimbabweam election as depicted in the western press is so one sided - this man is evil, full stop. But as the case has been with recent African history, half the story has not been told.

Happy Birthday Mr Mandela. Unfortunately South Africa is starting to unravel but that shouldn't be your concern now. You've played your part and made a rare sacrifice. Seems strange to me though that you went to the English Queen's place for your birthday party and used the same occassion to criticise your African brother in Zimbabwe. I guess you must love Amy Winehouse's music. They say she's gonna sing 'Free Mandela' today at the concert. And we thought he was already free. Thanks for reminding us that in this modern era of western capitalism and democracy, nothing is ever what it seems.

Ohun Oju Nri

The title of my first entry here is borrowed from a song by the most creative and enterprising musician of Nigerian extraction today, a gentleman called Beautiful Nubia (www.beautifulnubia.com).

In his song of the same title, he opens our eyes to the lies we have been told about our place in the world, gives us in less that 6 minutes, a tour of our regrettable past, deplorable present and possible glorious future. That future he says is possible if we learn to love who we are and stop chasing rainbows, if we learn to love our fellow being, and if we shun selflishness and greed (a tall order, but maybe we should give it a try).

Listening to the great man's music made me decide this morning to open this blog and start writing, sharing my thoughts and great resources that I come in contact with like Beautiful Nubia's amazing music. I hope I can continue doing this - I get easily distracted by the immensity of the problems that face Africans and Nigerians, that sometimes I wonder what purpose will be served by unimportant folks like me expressing ourselves. But like BN says in his music (yes, the man has a solution to every ache it seems), we all have a share in the blame for the failure of society and by the same token have a responsibility to act and propel positive change. Today I am reborn and renergised towards that process.

Thanks for reading this!

More of BN's music is also at www.myspace.com/beautifulnubia and www.youtube/awilele. It's my day off work, and I have been glued to the videos on youtube all morning.