Mombasa
If you count the grains of sand in the sky
they are greater than the stars on earth
The coral cliffs are holding them up
their porus bodies falling one by one to their death
Turning shooting stars into sand and shells
only to bleed the light dry
To walk upon them, to collect them
like sand grains of time
But there is a place above the stars and cliffs
it is a division of life and death
Like how the onshore breeze bends the coconut tree
a morning prayer, bowing to the unknowing earth
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The crisis in Kenya has as much to do with equity as it does with ethnicity
‘We are late sewing crops this year’ a friend sighs as we sit at a roadside café in the heart of Nairobi. The rain is falling heavily on the tarpaulin roof above and I have to concentrate closely to what my friends are saying. One says ‘All this rain going to waste, we don’t just have the world food crisis we have a Kenyan food crisis as well. We were too busy fighting and now we will pay through our stomachs’. I have returned to Kenya after six months absence and am trying to piece together what happened to cause the post election violence and what the future holds for my friends.
I ask them, how did you cope during the violence? I hear clearly one friend say ‘we turned on the TV, got scared, turned the TV off and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening’. So it was a shock, I asked? ‘No not really, we felt leading up to the elections that things were not good, you could feel it in the air’ another friend says. She continues, ‘what was a shock is that we didn’t expect, didn’t know that Kenyans were capable of such violence’. Another says ‘yes it has really damaged our sense of nationhood’.
So, I asked, this was an ethnic conflict? Another friend says ‘well yes and no’. The discussion then became lively. Many of my friends, from different ethnic groups, including the Luo, Luhya, Kalenjin and Kikuyu who were those groups at the heart of the post election violence voiced their opinions. It seems that whilst it did manifest itself in an ethnic conflict, underlying it was longstanding economic inequalities and access to land. It was as much about inequity as it was about ethnicity.
They tell me that in the Rift Valley where the conflict was and still is continuing the real issue is land. Prior to the arrival of the colonial powers much of the Rift Valley was traditionally the lands of different pastoralist groups comprising mainly the Kalenjin, Luhya and Masai. The land was highly productive and colonial powers soon took over large areas of the Rift Valley. The ‘White Highlands’ as they were known were those productive areas where the white farmers grew their lucrative export crops of tea and coffee.
With independence in 1963 many white farmers left the area and much of the land to the group that was made largely up by the first Government, the Kikuyu. Jomo Kenyatta the first Kenyan President and Kikuyu took much of the land. It is estimated his family still have more than 500,000 acres. But other politicians took and have since taken their slice of this productive land. Former President Daniel arap Moi (a Kalenjin) and his family are believed to have more than 300,000 acres and current President Mwai Kibaki in excess of 250,000 acres.
The first Kenyan Government resettled many Kikuyu from their homelands in central province to the Rift Valley and land was either given, leased or sold to many Kikuyu. It was believed by many that only the Kikuyu could continue making profitable incomes on the productive white highlands. Attitudes of Kikuyu superior intelligence amongst the ruling elite and increasing wealth of this group combined with local groups marginalization and increasing poverty levels has caused tensions to steadily rise to this day. To make things worse there has been steadily increasing population pressures in the area, putting more pressure on the availability of arable land. The Luo, from the Lake Victoria basin, perhaps the second most powerful group after the Kikuyu in Kenya have also been moving more into the rift valley over time as Lake Victoria resources continue to dwindle. The subsequent pressure of land for poorer people on which to survive combined with certain individuals (mostly Kikuyu) still owning large tracts of land created a tinderbox ready to ignite.
My friends tell me the 2002 elections was not one based on ethnicity. People wanted a change for a more equitable Kenya and so they united with Kibaki. One of his promises was land reform but when he came to power he did very little to address this. Things did not seem to go as people had hoped. Toward the end of 2007 Mr Raila Odinga, who had supported Kibaki in the 2002 election announced his candiancy under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) banner. He based much of his pre-election promises on dealing with social issues including that of land reform. Mr Odinga, a Luo, gained much sympathy from other groups in the Rift Valley including the Kalenjin. Then one friend tells me ‘when it appeared to many that Mr Odinga had been robbed of winning the election, the people had just had enough and took matters into their own hands’. The consequences are what we saw on our television screens across Australia.
I asked ‘so this sounds like another potential Rwanda? I mean there is a small ruling group (the Kikuyu) that many groups are now starting to target and get increasing hostile toward?’ My friends say that this is their greatest fear. They say that political leadership is now crucial to stop such a thing occurring. Even in Nairobi people are starting to talk badly of the Kikuyu. The notorious group ‘the Mungiki’ who are rife in Nairobi at present causing all kinds of social mayhem are linked closely to the Kikuyu and even allegedly prominent Kikuyu politicians. Someone says ‘how can such lawlessness be allowed to go on in the centre of Nairobi?’ They are clearly disappointed with their leaders, there is no way of hiding this.
Then someone says, ‘if only our leaders would follow the example shown by Kofi (Annan). This is a true African leader’. He continues ‘we saw the two sides of humanity during the crisis, we saw such evil but we saw such good and courage as well’. There is a silence and I sense that my friends, also from different ethnic groups, are happy the crisis didn’t split them but made them even stronger. Personally I witnessed Kenyan volunteers and emergency staff risking life and limb to assist those in need. I saw a great strength in Kenya in the midst of all this turmoil. This is something we should not overlook, it is easy to just say ‘it is happening again, those Africans are just hopeless’. But I tell you there are people here with a heart far greater than mine.
So where do we go from here I say? ‘Well it is a long road back, but people are sick of fighting, they now just want peace’ is the voice I hear. One of the problems are that people are scared to go back home and the people that forced them out are still not welcoming them back. But I am told that the land issue is one that can be solved, there are of course large tracts of land owned by wealthy people and politicians in the rift valley. So the question is essentially one of equity not ethnicity. As in many land disputes it is not a question of how much land there is available but who controls it. To solve this problem there needs to be a long process of peace building and land reform. But how will this happen I ask? Again the answer is leadership. We need leadership, true leadership. We are looking now to Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga to work together to address and solve this issue. Mr Kibaki a Kikuyu and Mr Odinga a Luo now have a unique opportunity to address the long-standing grievances between their two ethnic groups. However, if they squander this opportunity Kenya may fall back into a situation even worse than what we saw in January and February this year. I hope for my friends that such a situation does not eventuate.
The political crisis combined with increasing food and petrol prices is putting the pinch on my Kenyan friends. I feel like in so many situations of this kind, so unbelievably inadequate and so out of place. I think they can sense this and as the rainfall continues to fall we order our food. My friend sitting next to me sees that I have lost my appetite and says jokingly, but with a sense of irony, ‘better eat up now, who knows when we will eat next’. With that we did as my friend and the TV does, we turned our fears off, pretended it wasn’t happening and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together, like old times.
Stuart Thomson
27/4/2008
‘We are late sewing crops this year’ a friend sighs as we sit at a roadside café in the heart of Nairobi. The rain is falling heavily on the tarpaulin roof above and I have to concentrate closely to what my friends are saying. One says ‘All this rain going to waste, we don’t just have the world food crisis we have a Kenyan food crisis as well. We were too busy fighting and now we will pay through our stomachs’. I have returned to Kenya after six months absence and am trying to piece together what happened to cause the post election violence and what the future holds for my friends.
I ask them, how did you cope during the violence? I hear clearly one friend say ‘we turned on the TV, got scared, turned the TV off and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening’. So it was a shock, I asked? ‘No not really, we felt leading up to the elections that things were not good, you could feel it in the air’ another friend says. She continues, ‘what was a shock is that we didn’t expect, didn’t know that Kenyans were capable of such violence’. Another says ‘yes it has really damaged our sense of nationhood’.
So, I asked, this was an ethnic conflict? Another friend says ‘well yes and no’. The discussion then became lively. Many of my friends, from different ethnic groups, including the Luo, Luhya, Kalenjin and Kikuyu who were those groups at the heart of the post election violence voiced their opinions. It seems that whilst it did manifest itself in an ethnic conflict, underlying it was longstanding economic inequalities and access to land. It was as much about inequity as it was about ethnicity.
They tell me that in the Rift Valley where the conflict was and still is continuing the real issue is land. Prior to the arrival of the colonial powers much of the Rift Valley was traditionally the lands of different pastoralist groups comprising mainly the Kalenjin, Luhya and Masai. The land was highly productive and colonial powers soon took over large areas of the Rift Valley. The ‘White Highlands’ as they were known were those productive areas where the white farmers grew their lucrative export crops of tea and coffee.
With independence in 1963 many white farmers left the area and much of the land to the group that was made largely up by the first Government, the Kikuyu. Jomo Kenyatta the first Kenyan President and Kikuyu took much of the land. It is estimated his family still have more than 500,000 acres. But other politicians took and have since taken their slice of this productive land. Former President Daniel arap Moi (a Kalenjin) and his family are believed to have more than 300,000 acres and current President Mwai Kibaki in excess of 250,000 acres.
The first Kenyan Government resettled many Kikuyu from their homelands in central province to the Rift Valley and land was either given, leased or sold to many Kikuyu. It was believed by many that only the Kikuyu could continue making profitable incomes on the productive white highlands. Attitudes of Kikuyu superior intelligence amongst the ruling elite and increasing wealth of this group combined with local groups marginalization and increasing poverty levels has caused tensions to steadily rise to this day. To make things worse there has been steadily increasing population pressures in the area, putting more pressure on the availability of arable land. The Luo, from the Lake Victoria basin, perhaps the second most powerful group after the Kikuyu in Kenya have also been moving more into the rift valley over time as Lake Victoria resources continue to dwindle. The subsequent pressure of land for poorer people on which to survive combined with certain individuals (mostly Kikuyu) still owning large tracts of land created a tinderbox ready to ignite.
My friends tell me the 2002 elections was not one based on ethnicity. People wanted a change for a more equitable Kenya and so they united with Kibaki. One of his promises was land reform but when he came to power he did very little to address this. Things did not seem to go as people had hoped. Toward the end of 2007 Mr Raila Odinga, who had supported Kibaki in the 2002 election announced his candiancy under the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) banner. He based much of his pre-election promises on dealing with social issues including that of land reform. Mr Odinga, a Luo, gained much sympathy from other groups in the Rift Valley including the Kalenjin. Then one friend tells me ‘when it appeared to many that Mr Odinga had been robbed of winning the election, the people had just had enough and took matters into their own hands’. The consequences are what we saw on our television screens across Australia.
I asked ‘so this sounds like another potential Rwanda? I mean there is a small ruling group (the Kikuyu) that many groups are now starting to target and get increasing hostile toward?’ My friends say that this is their greatest fear. They say that political leadership is now crucial to stop such a thing occurring. Even in Nairobi people are starting to talk badly of the Kikuyu. The notorious group ‘the Mungiki’ who are rife in Nairobi at present causing all kinds of social mayhem are linked closely to the Kikuyu and even allegedly prominent Kikuyu politicians. Someone says ‘how can such lawlessness be allowed to go on in the centre of Nairobi?’ They are clearly disappointed with their leaders, there is no way of hiding this.
Then someone says, ‘if only our leaders would follow the example shown by Kofi (Annan). This is a true African leader’. He continues ‘we saw the two sides of humanity during the crisis, we saw such evil but we saw such good and courage as well’. There is a silence and I sense that my friends, also from different ethnic groups, are happy the crisis didn’t split them but made them even stronger. Personally I witnessed Kenyan volunteers and emergency staff risking life and limb to assist those in need. I saw a great strength in Kenya in the midst of all this turmoil. This is something we should not overlook, it is easy to just say ‘it is happening again, those Africans are just hopeless’. But I tell you there are people here with a heart far greater than mine.
So where do we go from here I say? ‘Well it is a long road back, but people are sick of fighting, they now just want peace’ is the voice I hear. One of the problems are that people are scared to go back home and the people that forced them out are still not welcoming them back. But I am told that the land issue is one that can be solved, there are of course large tracts of land owned by wealthy people and politicians in the rift valley. So the question is essentially one of equity not ethnicity. As in many land disputes it is not a question of how much land there is available but who controls it. To solve this problem there needs to be a long process of peace building and land reform. But how will this happen I ask? Again the answer is leadership. We need leadership, true leadership. We are looking now to Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga to work together to address and solve this issue. Mr Kibaki a Kikuyu and Mr Odinga a Luo now have a unique opportunity to address the long-standing grievances between their two ethnic groups. However, if they squander this opportunity Kenya may fall back into a situation even worse than what we saw in January and February this year. I hope for my friends that such a situation does not eventuate.
The political crisis combined with increasing food and petrol prices is putting the pinch on my Kenyan friends. I feel like in so many situations of this kind, so unbelievably inadequate and so out of place. I think they can sense this and as the rainfall continues to fall we order our food. My friend sitting next to me sees that I have lost my appetite and says jokingly, but with a sense of irony, ‘better eat up now, who knows when we will eat next’. With that we did as my friend and the TV does, we turned our fears off, pretended it wasn’t happening and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together, like old times.
Stuart Thomson
27/4/2008
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Sunday, November 25, 2007
The faces of hatred
and those of affection
here to stay and love us
whatever our direction
Hope rubs shoulders
and elbows are sharpened
the swords of attrition
cutting open the new day
Lanterns swing from their handles
as light peers in
Those eyes are upon us
we cannot hide from them
This is a time of hope and promise
of new beginnings
This is a rare chance
as fear takes its grip, I can already feel it slipping
and those of affection
here to stay and love us
whatever our direction
Hope rubs shoulders
and elbows are sharpened
the swords of attrition
cutting open the new day
Lanterns swing from their handles
as light peers in
Those eyes are upon us
we cannot hide from them
This is a time of hope and promise
of new beginnings
This is a rare chance
as fear takes its grip, I can already feel it slipping
Saturday, September 08, 2007
I can see a hole in your heart little one
dont worry I am going to fill it
packing all my anxiety and taking a trip
deep into the depths of you
There is a hole in my heart
and I am trying to fit you into it
it seems so small but then so deep
like the distance in between
But remember not to worry, I am going to fill it
for all I have taken I am packing in a box
and sending it accross the oceans
anxiety, angst and anger to you
Little one there is indeed a hole in your heart
I can see from one side to the other, right through
My tears are an ocean filling
As I am telling the truth of you
dont worry I am going to fill it
packing all my anxiety and taking a trip
deep into the depths of you
There is a hole in my heart
and I am trying to fit you into it
it seems so small but then so deep
like the distance in between
But remember not to worry, I am going to fill it
for all I have taken I am packing in a box
and sending it accross the oceans
anxiety, angst and anger to you
Little one there is indeed a hole in your heart
I can see from one side to the other, right through
My tears are an ocean filling
As I am telling the truth of you
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Killing Gods
A good man told me once we are all children of God
and if you look deep into my eyes
you would see through the dust and dirt
clouding the vision of this morning sky
Now I wake not to the sound of bells
but the smell of sweat running along this rolling countryside
and these silent roads like after an argument
with my brother on the way to school
As I pass my neighbours house
he is carrying the burden between his shoulders
whilst trying to cut it free
no matter how sharp the tool he cant reach it
He is killing himself slowly and I cry for him
I want to hold his hand and whisper in his ear
please sir we are both made in the likeness of God
I know you and you know me
So please look into my eyes
wipe the sweat and dirt from this crimson sky
and be so kind and tell me friend
are you killing Gods by destroying the likeness of yourself?
A good man told me once we are all children of God
and if you look deep into my eyes
you would see through the dust and dirt
clouding the vision of this morning sky
Now I wake not to the sound of bells
but the smell of sweat running along this rolling countryside
and these silent roads like after an argument
with my brother on the way to school
As I pass my neighbours house
he is carrying the burden between his shoulders
whilst trying to cut it free
no matter how sharp the tool he cant reach it
He is killing himself slowly and I cry for him
I want to hold his hand and whisper in his ear
please sir we are both made in the likeness of God
I know you and you know me
So please look into my eyes
wipe the sweat and dirt from this crimson sky
and be so kind and tell me friend
are you killing Gods by destroying the likeness of yourself?
Sunday, July 08, 2007
My heart is now free
Those shadows moving through your eyelids
And cracks of light and sounds all new
You hold innocence in your hands
And worlds of wisdom beneath your feet
Those first breaths are perilous and sweet
And I am not there little one
To smell your skin and hear you cry
So I will let myself dream of you
As I walk though the days in this life
And know you see me as I do you
Hoping your heartache be only brief
And know your are welcome in my house
This world is a wonderful and lonely place
Where love can dispel all doubts within
So if you get lost take one step in front of the other
And always be yourself
Finally, I need to ask you something
One small favour
Please eat all your vegetables
And take good care of your mum
Go with peace into the world little one!
Those shadows moving through your eyelids
And cracks of light and sounds all new
You hold innocence in your hands
And worlds of wisdom beneath your feet
Those first breaths are perilous and sweet
And I am not there little one
To smell your skin and hear you cry
So I will let myself dream of you
As I walk though the days in this life
And know you see me as I do you
Hoping your heartache be only brief
And know your are welcome in my house
This world is a wonderful and lonely place
Where love can dispel all doubts within
So if you get lost take one step in front of the other
And always be yourself
Finally, I need to ask you something
One small favour
Please eat all your vegetables
And take good care of your mum
Go with peace into the world little one!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
I've seen love in many different ways
and today is one of those days
when blue tears run down black cheeks
just to roll away
Down cliff sides into valleys
under bridges and through motes
a thousand different streams
within the folds of skin
The steam evaporates in the mid day sun
never to reach the sea
Oh I have seen love in many different ways
and today, well today is just one of those days
and today is one of those days
when blue tears run down black cheeks
just to roll away
Down cliff sides into valleys
under bridges and through motes
a thousand different streams
within the folds of skin
The steam evaporates in the mid day sun
never to reach the sea
Oh I have seen love in many different ways
and today, well today is just one of those days
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
WISE MEN
Three men walk into a bar
Its one of those warm African nights
Three beers at the bar
Will make them kings
Before the night ends
They’ll be dancing cheek to cheek
To ‘rule my destiny’
In the shadows feet to feet
Eventually they find their souls
At the bottom of toilet bowls
The father, the son and the holy ghost
And whisper prayers into dirty sheets
Three men walk into a bar
On one of those warm African nights
They are kings
But none walk out alive
Three men walk into a bar
Its one of those warm African nights
Three beers at the bar
Will make them kings
Before the night ends
They’ll be dancing cheek to cheek
To ‘rule my destiny’
In the shadows feet to feet
Eventually they find their souls
At the bottom of toilet bowls
The father, the son and the holy ghost
And whisper prayers into dirty sheets
Three men walk into a bar
On one of those warm African nights
They are kings
But none walk out alive
My baby is sick
I heard a friend say
What is new friend?
We are all getting sicker each day
I take presents from strangers
I may have saved once
From sickness, from death
No one really knows
The cock was brought forward
It crowed fate
Bananas were carried on heads
The weight pushing 3ft down
My baby was sick
I heard a friend say
But I was not listening
and now she’s dead
I heard a friend say
What is new friend?
We are all getting sicker each day
I take presents from strangers
I may have saved once
From sickness, from death
No one really knows
The cock was brought forward
It crowed fate
Bananas were carried on heads
The weight pushing 3ft down
My baby was sick
I heard a friend say
But I was not listening
and now she’s dead
Beautiful People
I’ve got a burden
Between my shoulders
And I can’t bear it
I’ll walk by your side
While you carry it for me
I’ll give you some money
Enough to keep you tame
Wear it on your head
So it spreads evenly
And forms your feet
To the shape of this earth
The burden is heavy
I’m sorry
It’s the years of hatred
We have had for you
Beautiful People
You bear my burden
So elegantly
Beautiful People, Shikamoni
I’ve got a burden
Between my shoulders
And I can’t bear it
I’ll walk by your side
While you carry it for me
I’ll give you some money
Enough to keep you tame
Wear it on your head
So it spreads evenly
And forms your feet
To the shape of this earth
The burden is heavy
I’m sorry
It’s the years of hatred
We have had for you
Beautiful People
You bear my burden
So elegantly
Beautiful People, Shikamoni
Friday, February 02, 2007
Thursday, February 01, 2007
BLACK SKIN – WHITE MASKS AT THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUMNairobi, Kenya 20-25th Jan 2007
Amongst the crowd, out the corner of my eye I saw an elderly man with dreadlocks down to his ankles. This was maybe an unusual sight under normal circumstances but hey I was at the World Social Forum, and I was expecting anything to happen! The World Social Forum, the largest gathering of Civil Society organizations upon the planet was taking place in Nairobi Kenya and I had the privilege to be there. Over 50,000 delegates from all over the globe had gathered to discuss how to work together to make this world a better place. Or as the slogan goes ‘Another World is Possible’.
I decided to start my discussions with the elderly man with dreadlocks. After introducing myself he tells me he has been growing his hair for 27years, which was probably older than many of the delegates at the Forum. He then tells me he comes from the small Caribbean island of Martinique and was here to share the message of Frantz Fanon a fellow countryman. Frantz Fanon (1925 – 1961) was an intellectual who focused upon the issue of decolonialization and the psychopathology of colonialization. His most famous work ‘Black Skin – White Masks’ details the idea that cultural norms and language in particular imposed upon a people by a colonial power subjugates all value and worth of the people consisting the colonial subject. So here I was a white man from Australia talking English to a French man of African decent from the Caribbean in Nairobi and I wondered ‘what language are we speaking now?’
As we talked the primal language of hunger started taking over and I became distracted and looked around for anything that resembled a food stand or passing vendor. To my right I saw a lot of white delegates eating different kinds of tasty foods under a shady tent. With my hunger getting the better of me I told my dreadlocked brother that I had an important meeting to attend, took his phone number and promised to contact him later. With that I moved quickly into the shade and lined up for food. When I reached the front of the line I realized that the food here was not cheap, maybe accounting for the presence of a large number of white people in the café. Anyway I was hungry and I could afford it so I bout my food and ate with intent.
Upon leaving the café I was confronted by a group of children who asked for money and said they were hungry. Having eaten my food I was in the mood for discussing again so I stopped to talk and asked them where they were from and what they were doing here. They explained that they were a mixture of orphans and street children and had heard there were a lot of good people at the Forum that may help them. During my years of work in East Africa I had been told by my colleagues and working partners to never give money to begging children, it creates a begging culture. I explained this rationally to the children and quickly moved on. I later witnessed a direct action by the street children and their supporters upon the café, they shut down its operations and eventually the remaining food was distributed to the children. Throughout the demonstration people were chanting ‘together united we cannot be defeated!’ The owners of the café were noticeably upset, but I figured that just like me the kids just got too hungry to care.
Further along the path in the scorching Nairobi sun I bumped into an old colleague from Tanzania, she was representing the women’s organization Kivulini, meaning ‘in the shade’ in Kiswahili. We exchanged the usual greetings and started to talk about the issues of the Forum; workers rights, empowerment of women, HIV/Aids, trade, sustainable development etc. etc. She wondered whether it was all just a lot of hot air and posturing by different organizations to show how good they are about making this so-called ‘other world possible’. I agreed that this maybe the case but my thoughts drifted back to Frantz Fanon and the language we were speaking here, and suggested maybe this is a place where we can find a common language as a civil society to go out into the world and deliver our demands and solutions to the issues of poverty and global injustice more clearly. My friend did not really agree or understand what I was getting at, so with that I handed her my business card and started to leave. Then she asked ‘Forum Syd’ what does that mean? I said it means ‘Forum South’ in English, a meeting place to discuss global issues of international solidarity, justice and sustainable development. She sounded interested and asked where and when we had our seminar. I explained that we did not have one and that we were here as ‘observers’ at the Forum, but maybe next time.
As I walked into my next seminar held by Friends of the Earth I started thinking how important it is for Forum Syd, and not just its member organizations, to be present and be active at such forums in the future. With the wealth and experience of development co-operation it was a shame that Forum Syd could not have held similar seminars to the ones being held where organizations could exchange ideas and develop future plans. I wondered if Forum Syd’s active engagement in such Forum’s need to be so complicated. Frantz Fanon also once said that sometimes the colonizers get caught up in their own language and cannot see beyond it resulting in stagnation and eventual demise of their own self worth. His point was that no one feels good or gains from being in a vacuum of power imbalance. So I thought maybe we should forget our Log frames, Octagons, comparative advantages, and strategic plans, at least for this week. Maybe a rights based approach means that we meet our friends and partners from the South with humility, to sit, to eat and to talk about life, our concerns and what we really mean about this other ‘possible’ world.
Upon leaving the Forum grounds I noticed the large number of armed guards and soldiers around the perimeter of the stadium. After just attending a peace rally and disarmament talk, I felt compelled to ask one of the soldiers what the purpose of his duty was? He looked a bit confused. Then I asked, are you protecting us from the outside world or are you protecting them from us? With a wry smile and not really answering my question he said ‘you can’t be too careful these days about terrorists’.
Bumping along on the bus between Nairobi and Dar I was left with the images, impressions and long list of contacts from my week at the World Social Forum. Perhaps the strongest memory I had was of the former President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda at one of the women’s forums, stamping his feet and shaking his customary white handkerchief in the air. He repeated with conviction and resounding purpose ‘enough is enough! Enough is enough!’, and the woman were cheering him on. With the image of him fresh in my mind as he drove away in his Mercedes Bends, I wondered what he actually meant by ‘enough is enough’? Does it mean he has enough, or has had enough? This contradiction I believe is highly relevant to my own situation. How can I as privileged white man, together with my colleagues at Forum Syd really and truly contribute to a better (or another) possible world?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
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