Desicritics Category: Politics: Freedom

Poem For Barack, Michelle, Sasha, and Melia Obama

temporal — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 09:54:02 EST

CALLIE SHELL/AP

barak and michelle
m and i share your concern
for the privacy
and well being
of sasha and melia
may your children
get good education
and medical care
and grow up
balanced individuals
ready to take their place
in the affairs of our world
unlike the children in gaza

ASHRAF AMRA/AP

let me add briefly
am disappointed
at your silence
you did speak out
as president elect
on other issues
is apartheid,
ghettoisation
ethnic cleansing
and loss of civilian lives
not important for you?

Israel's Gaza Offensive

Vinod Joseph — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 12:18:10 EST

I believe that the air attacks being carried out by Israel on various targets in the Gaza Strip and the incursion by the Israeli army into the Gaza Strip are justified. I also believe that these air attacks and land offensive will serve no purpose at all, other than help Ehud Barak and the Labour Party in the forthcoming Israeli elections.

Ever since the cease fire between Hamas and Israel came to an end on 19 December 2008, Israel has been targeted by Hamas which started to fire around 80 rockets per day into Israel. Most of the rockets did not cause much damage and so far, only a handful of Israelis have died as a result. However, the number of people killed in Gaza has exceeded five hundred. Clearly the Israeli response to the rocket attacks is not proportionate. Why then do I say that Israeli is justified in its actions?

Imagine for a moment that you own a fertile piece of land in a desolate part of the world. You land adjoins a barren piece of land. A tall barbed wire fence separates your land and the barren land. The people who own the barren land don’t like your presence in the neighbourhood. They have a nasty habit of throwing stones into your land, a few stones every day. Mostly they don’t do any damage, but once a month or so, a worker in your land gets hit by a stone. Once in a while, your neighbours cut through the barbed wire fence and creep into your land at night and uproot a few fruit trees before returning to their barren land, all this in order to make you abandon your fertile property. How should you respond? If your response has to be strictly proportionate, you can only throw stones into your neighbour’s barren land, something which will distress your neighbour a lot less than you are distressed by the stones thrown into your land. You can also creep into your neighbour’s land at night and uproot his fruit trees, except that your neighbour does not have any fruit trees! So, you post guards on the periphery of your land, mount powerful search lights at certain vantage points and instruct your guards to shoot dead anyone caught in the act of throwing stones into your land. Intruders who enter your fertile land are also to be locked up for a year before they are released. Once this new policy comes into effect, your guards do manage to kill a few stone throwers and catch a few intruders, but the stone throwing and intrusions don’t cease. This is mainly because there is a total difference in values between you and your neighbour and your neighbour is willing to sacrifice the lives of his people in order to cause trouble for you. He just does not want you in the neighbourhood, though you have every right to be there. Soon the number of fruit trees you lose to your neighbour’s men goes up. Your workers start to quit. You start making a loss. Unless you manage to stop the stone throwing and the uprooting of fruit trees, you will have to vacate the neighbourhood. What do you do then? There is no police force worth the name in your part of the world. You have no choice but to send a team of armed men into your neighbour’s land and capture or kill everyone who has thrown stones or intruded into your land and teach your neighbour such a lesson that he does not try to harm your property ever again.

Now imagine for a moment that you acquired your fertile piece of land after a prolonged litigation. You won the legal dispute and the loser was your neighbour who owns the adjacent barren piece of land. They are many in your town who say that the court ruling was unfair, though the bulk of the local residents support the judicial ruling and are happy for you to occupy your piece of land. Does this additional piece of information make you change your mind? Do you now think that the neighbour has the right to throw stones into your land or intrude into your land and uproot your fruit trees? The answer is a clear No. Instead, what your neighbour ought to do if unhappy with the court ruling is appeal to a higher court. If further appeal is not possible, your neighbour ought to get public opinion on his side and in the meantime, try and make his barren piece of land as fertile as possible.

Israel is in the position of the owner of the fertile land. Its neighbour is Hamas, an organisation whose charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic State. I have always believed that the creation of Israel through an UN resolution was absolutely fair. If you believe that the creation of Israel by the UN in 1948 was correct, it naturally follows that Israel has the right to defend its territory and pre-empt any possible attack that may pose an existential threat to Israel. I have many good friends who ardently believe that the creation of Israel was unfair. All those friends tell me that Israel’s Gaza offensive is totally unjustified.

It must be admitted, most of what followed after the fair and legal creation of Israel was neither fair nor legal. Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and its Arab minority has almost always been very, very unjust. In particular, I don’t think that Israel was justified in placing an economic blockade on the Gaza Strip in reaction to Hamas’s election victory. Though no one likes the idea of fundamentalists of the Hamas variety on their door step, Israel had no right to make life unbearable for the people in the Gaza Strip. Also, it must not be forgotten that Hamas is largely a creation of Israel. If Israel were not so desperate to undermine the secular Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Fatah, fundamentalist Hamas would not have come into existence.

The Gaza Strip is not a sovereign state, but Hamas runs it as if it is. As per the UN resolution which created Israel, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem ought to form an independent Palestinian state. However, East Jerusalem is illegally occupied by Israel and the West Bank is under the control of the Fatah. Hamas won the Palestinian Parliamentary Elections in January 2006 and came to power. After infighting broke out between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas was evicted from the West Bank in mid 2007. For good measure, the Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas declared Hamas to be an illegal force. I don’t think Mahmud Abbas was right in doing so and I do think that Hamas got a raw deal in being evicted from the West Bank, considering the fact that they won 74 seats to the ruling-Fatah's 45 in the Parliamentary elections in January 2006. Most probably Israel played a key behind-the-scenes role in all this.

However, despite all these drawbacks on the part of Israel, the random launching of rockets into Israel with the intention of killing civilians cannot be justified. Hamas’s attacks on Israel are not just a reaction to the economic blockade. Instead, it arises out of Hamas’s determination that Israel should not exist as a state. The range of Hamas’s rockets has been increasing in range and accuracy by the month and soon there may be a day when Hamas is able to target any part of Israel at its will. When faced with such a situation, Israel is perfectly entitled to defend itself against such attacks and do all that is necessary to prevent such attacks in future.

The forthcoming elections in Israel and the need for the ruling Labour Party to show itself to be as tough on Hamas as the Likud Party, has definitely influenced Israel’s decision to attack the Hamas in Gaza. Nevertheless, Israel’s right to defend itself is so fundamental that it is entitled to do so even on election’s eve.

All of what I have stated above begs the question whether India is entitled to respond against Pakistan in a similar fashion in response to the Mumbai attacks. The answer is yes, though, considering the fact that Pakistan is not the Gaza Strip and it possesses nuclear weapons, India would be foolhardy to do so.

Israeli air strikes have led to heavy civilian casualties. It is not easy to watch visuals of civilians, including young children being killed, and say with a straight face the Israel’s actions are justified. However, Israel’s actions are indeed justified. Hamas has intentionally mixed up its military infrastructure with civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Hamas seems to enjoy a high degree of civilian support in Gaza. If a near-sovereign state supported by its population launches attacks on another sovereign state using equipment and men who are mixed up with civilians, the ensuing retribution will cause civilian causalities. Hamas is as much to blame for the civilians killed in the air strikes as are the people of Gaza who voted for an organisation whole sole objective is to remove Israel from the face of this earth.

Will Israel succeed in its objective? In 2006, Israel launched an offensive against the Hezbollah in Lebanon and was fought to a standstill. Hezbollah’s survival made it a lot more popular and Israel’s aura of invincibility was badly dented. Hamas is no Hezbollah. It is not as tough or as capable as Hassan Nazarallah’s organisation. Also, unlike in 2006, this time Israel seems to be successfully avoiding battles in dense population centres where die-hard Hamas fighters could take a heavy toll of its fighters. If Israel’s only objective is to stop the rocket attacks altogether, it will not succeed. If its aim is to only make Hamas pay a price for the rocket attacks, it may succeed. However, Hamas will continue to exist as an organisation even after this offensive is over. It will also retain its ability to launch attacks on Israel, as before. Its popularity in Gaza Strip and the rest of the Arab world may even go up. In short, the Israeli offensive will most probably do nothing other than help the Labour Party and Ehud Barak win the next elections.

What Israel Won't Tell You

Sarah Islam — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:46:39 EST

Today’s edition of Haaretz says that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the Gaza operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Ostensibly, while the ceasefire gave Hamas the opportunity to rally its troops it also gave the Israeli Army time to prepare for the Gaza offensive. Barak also ordered a comprehensive intelligence-gathering drive to map out Hamas' security infrastructure, along with that of other militant organizations operating in the Strip. This intelligence-gathering campaign helped to dig out information about permanent bases, weapon depots, training camps, and to identify the homes of senior officials.

The Haaretz newspaper also says that in its summary announcement for a cabinet meeting to decide on the Gaza attacks, the Prime Minister's Bureau devoted one line to the situation in Gaza. What actually went on at the cabinet meeting was a five-hour discussion about the operation in which ministers were briefed about the various blueprints and plans of action. Here is a short excerpt from the newspaper's article, "Disinformation, Secrecy and Lies":

“At the end of the discussion, the ministers unanimously voted in favor of the strike, leaving it for the prime minister, the defense minister and the foreign minister to work out the exact time.

While Barak was working out the final details with the officers responsible for the operation, Livni went to Cairo to inform Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, that Israel had decided to strike at Hamas.

In parallel, Israel continued to send out disinformation in announcing it would open the crossings to the Gaza Strip and that Olmert would decide whether to launch the strike following three more deliberations on Sunday - one day after the actual order to launch the operation was issued.

"Hamas evacuated all its headquarter personnel after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday," one defense official said, "but the organization sent its people back in when they heard that everything was put on hold until Sunday."

The final decision was made on Friday morning, when Barak met with Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi, the head of the Shin Bet Security Service Yuval Diskin and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Amos Yadlin. Barak sat down with Olmert and Livni several hours later for a final meeting, in which the trio gave the air force its orders.

On Friday night and on Saturday morning, opposition leaders and prominent political figures were informed about the impending strike, including Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, Yisrael Beuiteinu's Avigdor Liebermen, Haim Oron from Meretz and President Shimon Peres, along with Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik.”

This account of the premeditation and stealth with which Israel has launched this, the first Gaza War, is truly abhorrent and should be condemned by the world community and the UN. Everyone was curious to see how Obama (the one who can do no wrong) would react. His office has gone on record to say that: Hamas is a terrorist Organization and that Obama sympathizes with Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Disappointed? Were you really so naive as to believe that the change of guard in the White House would really change the ground situation in the Middle East or elsewhere?

Israel & Palestine: Force Is Never the Solution

temporal — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:25:14 EST

Taking advantage of the lame duck Presidency of Bush, the deliberate distancing of President Elect there-is-only-one-president Obama, the holidays in the West and the attending low emphasis of politicians, Israeli Air Force launched a devastating attack on Gaza.

Israel is the non NPT signatory Occupier in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Golan and East Jerusalem, aided (up to 5 billion a year) and abetted by the West.

President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmood Abbas is perceived as an Palestinian Uncle Tom and he was soundly beaten in the elections by Hamas.

The infamous US dichotomy re: democracy sprung into action and immediately cut off all aid to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also twisted its allies and lackeys' arms (including Canada's) to do the same. This US amnesiac approach is well documented and understood globally. Do as I say, not as I do.

Hamas leadership did not go to the same school.

This latest foray into the Gaza Strip would wane away sooner or later. But the violence and "terrorism" it would spawn would perpetuate the cycle for long.

Can anything be done to avoid the unnecessary spiralling of violence? I have written about the solution before here: Peace With Dignity: Another Gift For Israel

Criticizing Zionism is NOT anti-Semitism. States do not exist without an “official” map. Israel has to exist. Its citizens have a right to live in peace and harmony within its defined borders. They forget that to ensure this its neighbors should also have the same rights.

Both Israel and Palestinians have to demonstrate more effectively that they want to live in peace and do not want to kill, maim, expel from their land. It is for them to deliberate and decide if this should come under One State of Two State solution.

The world should help them reach this decision but should not refrain to remind Israel that it should curb its policies of occupation, subjugation, ethnic cleansing, and terrorising.

We should encourage initiatives that will let all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, with dignity, justice and guaranteed fundamental human rights in secure borders, as enshrined in the various UN resolutions.

To remove misgivings, doubts and suspicions, international bodies including the UN, the European Union, OIC should be enlisted to provide guarantees. Peace in the region is not to be equated with death for the state of Israel.

Israel portrays itself as the David but acts as the Goliath in the region. Here are the (boxing preliminary) statistics of Israel and the Palestinians of the occupied Gaza Strip.

The Occupier Goliaths

High quality tanks 970
Medium and low quality tanks 1830
APCs, IFVs, ARVs, LCVs 6930
Self-propelled artillery 1204
Combat warplanes 875
Transport warplanes 84
Training warplanes 171
Military helicopters 286
Heavy SAM batteries 25
Warships 13
Submarines 3
Patrol boats 50 50
nuclear bombs over 300-500

The Occupied Davids

Five major militant factions operate in Gaza. These are the Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad; the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is loosely tied to Abbas' Fatah faction; the Popular Resistance Committees, a shadowy umbrella group; and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The size of the groups is unclear, but they are equipped with assault rifles, mortars, anti-tank missiles, homemade rockets and other explosives.

****

The point neoconzix in Israel and the West refuse to fathom: force is never the solution.

Gaza Is Aflame. Again!

Sarah Islam — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:10:05 EST

Just heard on the television that Israeli F-16 bombers have carried out massive air strikes in Gaza which have killed 200 and injured 400 mostly women and children. Scores of dead bodies have been thrown out on the streets as hospitals have no place to keep them.

They said that the weather had been exceptionally beautiful in the West Bank, for the past couple of days. Christmas was celebrated with much pomp and splendor and tourists had thronged Bethlehem for the first time in many years in record breaking numbers. Taking advantage of good weather, Israeli planes bombed around 40 Palestinian police stations, posts and other targets early Saturday morning. Time says that the ‘the first strikes came in a coordinated three-minute blitz’.

Israeli officials say the strikes are being carried out on response to the rocket attacks from Gaza, a Hamas ruled territory. The Israeli Government spokesperson on BBC told viewers that the ‘Palestinians were exaggerating the number of civilian casualties for propaganda purposes’.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in June this year. Israel wants the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shilat. Hamas needed a break to consolidate its control over Gaza. Neither side recognizes the other’s legitimacy but had agreed to negotiate through an Egyptian mediator.

On November 5 this year, the Israeli government sealed all the ways into and out of Gaza. fuel, electricity, food, medical supplies and water equipment are no longer being allowed to enter the besieged Palestinian Territories.

According to Oxfam only 137 trucks of food were allowed into Gaza in November.

Sara Roy, author of Failing Peace: Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict says in the LRB: ‘The majority of commercial bakeries in Gaza – 30 out of 47 – have had to close because they have run out of cooking gas. People are using any fuel they can find to cook with. As the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has made clear, cooking-gas canisters are necessary for generating the warmth to incubate broiler chicks. Shortages of gas and animal feed have forced commercial producers to smother hundreds of thousands of chicks. By April, according to the FAO, there will be no poultry there at all: 70 per cent of Gazans rely on chicken as a major source of protein.’

The holocaust is happening all over again right here, right now. The International Community is not bothered and apart from a few UN warnings, there is no concentrated effort to stop Israel from carrying out violent attacks on the Palestinian people, their properties, their civil institutions, their livestock and their very dignity.

The EU announced recently that it wanted to strengthen its relationship with Israel while the Israeli leadership openly calls for a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip . Ehud Barack has just announced that ‘the time to fight in Gaza has come.’

The world is talking about change, countries are quick to pounce on their ‘right to defend’ themselves and Barak Obama’s victory in the US presidential elections has triggered a Mexican wave of joy across the world. It is scary that here is a man who has not even taken over the office yet and people everywhere are already treating him like he is the next best thing after sliced bread.

Obama has already shown his pro-Israel stand and is said to be a firm believer in Israel’s right to defend itself. I suppose we should resign ourselves to Obama murmuring the same clichéd lines when asked to comment on the Isreal-palestine conflict. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has already accused Hamas of having triggered the new bout of violence. So Israel’s hands are clean. Again.

The mind boggles how the world can be so spineless once again and not ask Israel a simple question that Sara Roy asks: ‘How can keeping food and medicine from the people of Gaza protect the people of Israel? How can the impoverishment and suffering of Gaza’s children benefit anyone? International law as well as human decency demands their protection.’

Never before has a noble and dignified slogan like ‘Never Again’ been twisted into such a cruel joke.

India has the dubious distinction of being Israel's principal arms market, as well as being eager customers of Israeli intelligence reports, technological expertise and its propaganda prone foreign policy. Haven’t we all seen how we in India were singing hymns in favour of Israel after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai? Didn’t we all listen in as various experts and the aam junta upheld Israel as a ‘model state’ against combating terrorism on their soil?

Pakistan, on the other hand has always had a hardnosed religious approach to the issue of Palestine. Hardliners in that country have always treated Israel as another Kashmir that is theirs to be fought for. Calls for Jihad have been given many times and truckloads of eager illiterate Pakistani and Afghani youth have left their families to fight for their Palestinian 'brothers and sisters'. Again, a supreme example of how agood idea can be completely distorted.

What Palestine needs right now is not patronizing behavior but a few brave countries to stand in its corner and help their cause in front of the international community. No amount of humanitarian aid or sympathy can help the West Bank. The political leadership in that country has failed. It needs civilian action, not violence, to make the world hear its plight.

There is an overkill of the Israel-Palestinian issue in world media and I suppose a certain fatigue has set in with the common man who does not live in the Middle East. What we need to do right now is to shake ourselves out of this apathy, yes, you and me, and do whatever we can to make the Two-nation theory a plausible option for the world community. Let’s write letters, blog about it and create a human network that not only sympathizes with the Palestinians and their troubles, but is also active enough and strong enough to take this to the end.

This is not a Muslim-Jewish-Christian conflict. This is the unraveling of a society and the annihilation of a people and their way of life. Violence is the not the way forward. Neither is helplessness.

Congo Connection - 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter one in The Black Ancestor starts like this:

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

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

The last chapter goes like this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

His letter to me -

Dear Amitabh

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 : "Evil colonialism has inflicted ?"

This is a cliché!

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

I added my little bit.

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

Accept my apologies for being direct

Sincerely

Jean - Marie

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

Pakistan Can't Bleed Us to Death With a Thousand Cuts

BangaloreGuy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:31:03 EST

It's not because we've corrupt nincompoops for politicians, not because our bureaucracy is a parasite eating at the Indian state's core, not because criminals get away scot-free.

It's Not even because our intelligence gathering mechanisms arent well-oiled or well co-ordinated. And definitely not because of something stupid called "Mumbai spirit" or "Bangalore spirit" or whatever spirit that people spout on the telly.

It's because safety and security is inherently not a priority of the Indian population. The aam aadmi just doesn't care a hoot for safety.

It is not a one-off incident related to terrorism in Mumbai, or anywhere else in the country. But pretty much on a daily basis.

The aam aadmi doesn't give a hoot for life insurance unless it's meant as a tax-saving or as a money-growing device. The aam aadmi doesn't do anything better than snigger about safety, on the road. Notice the number of seat belts worn, the number of helmets properly fastened (if worn), the lack of road manners - and the infuriating overloading of vehicles beyond capacity.

Or when the aam aadmi walks calmly across the road when a truck 300 times her/his weight is bearing upon them.

Or when a prominent mall is so unsafe that 3 children die there (falling between parapet and wall), apart from few people trapped in the lifts. Mall cleans up, makes some noises and goes about its business without a thought - no one even thinks it merits discussion, or thought!

Safety is just not a concern.

So, when Sheila Dixit said that her government won because terrorism is not an election issue, shock is replaced with an all-knowing calm - we are like this wonly!

People can come out in marches, people may light candles, but here's the thing - an average of 40 lakh commuters travel on Mumbai's trains. Crammed worse than sheep at times - if they don't give a shit about improving safety on trains, improving capacity on trains - things which affect their lives every day - what are the chances of them making terrorism an issue - not too much.

So Pakistan gets to play its game, US asks India to keep restraint and Indian government (which again gives a hoot for security) plays ball knowing public anger about terror only exists in pockets and doesn't last.

Defending Kasab

Somik Raha — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:38:50 EST

As the world watches and supports India in its investigation of the Mumbai terror attacks, we are on the verge of dismantling the very spirit of our democracy that we should have been striving to protect. One wonders which law schools have trained the members of the Mumbai Bar Council when all of them refuse to represent Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist caught by the police in the Mumbai attacks. What is wrong with the people of India that they think an accused should be denied legal rights?

There are several disturbing reports in the media about this. Here is a badly written piece that argues the following, "What would have been the treatment if this would have happened in some middle east countries. India is turning out to be heaven for this terrorist groups, they have every oppurtunity to use the loose laws in there favour and save themselves in jail......in long and safe trials. The democratic heaven of terrorist give them right to life to kill several lives." This is what I call a "self-defeating argument." It is clear that the author does not hold the Middle East in good light. Yet, if we follow his thinking to its logical conclusion and deny legal rights, we will create a middle-eastern system within India, which I assume he won't like. Of course, it is another discussion if the middle-eastern system is indeed as primitive as it is made out to be.

The lone lawyer who was "appointed" to represent Kasab withdrew, and the Times of India presents it in a manner that makes it look patriotic. The Mumbai Bar Council passed a resolution saying it would not represent Kasab or any of the defendants.

One brave and sensible advocate, Mahesh Deshmukh, showed the willingness to take up the case. The Shiv Sena, which had disappeared all this time, re-emerged and attacked Mr. Deshmukh's house. The police were apparently present when the Shiv Sainiks manhandled Mr. Deshmukh, and as far as I have seen, there has been no action taken against the Sena.

All this paints a very disturbing picture of an India that is throwing logic and the law out of the window. The outcome will come back to haunt us in ways that we won't like at all. First, for all those people who have fooled themselves into believing that patriotism is about not representing criminals, To Kill a Mockingbird comes as highly recommended reading. In fact, we ought to read this book as high-school children. The story is about a black man convicted of raping a white woman, and a white lawyer who is requested by the judge to represent the accused. Of course, all hell breaks loose, and the town is furious with the lawyer for taking the case.

To me, the white lawyer in the story is a hero. And we have such living heroes who uphold the values we hold dear in our country. One of them is Ram Jethmalani. Shockingly, the Indian media is also unaware of the fact that the accused in our country are given legal rights. Sagarika Ghose tried to ask Mr. Jethmalani why he was representing Manu Sharma, a convicted murderer accused of killing Jessica Lall, and a person who does not arouse any sympathy from any quarter in India (including myself). Jethmalani's response was classic:

"Who the hell is the press to decide who is indefensible? Courts decide that. .. The press has no right to determine this issue. The press in trying to determine this issue is guilty of the highest form of contempt." He also says in the interview that it will be the saddest day in India when lawyers refuse to defend an accused. Unfortunately, that day is here.

Here is the must-watch interview:

I am also critical of the way in which the government is interacting with Pakistan on this investigation. Zaid Hamid, a vitriolic Mujahideen turned defense analyst from Pakistan, has been screaming himself hoarse on how all this is a Hindu-Zionist conspiracy. While on first glance, he looks and talks like a clown, it is in our interest to listen carefully, for he brings up simple points like the kalash on the hand of Kasab, and that he was talking in Marathi instead of Punjabi, as was alleged. How hard can it be for Indian investigators to refute this? All they need to do is invite a senior investigator from Pakistan to talk to Kasab and determine if he has a Punjabi or Marathi accent.

I think Pakistan cannot be represented by outspoken clowns - there are several sane voices in the land, and we must appreciate them. Today, Nawaz Sharif has talked about the cordon around Ajmal's village, and how he believes that Ajmal is indeed from Pakistan. Meanwhile, Geo TV, Pakistan's private television channel, is busy getting sued by a ruling party politician for doing an undercover investigation and showing villagers agreeing that Ajmal was from their area. These guys are heroes for having the courage to go after the truth, and it will be nice to see some appreciation from the Indian side. And of course, the other voice I respect from Pakistan is that of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who gave a very sensible and sane interview in David Frost's show. Imran follows this up with an interview with NDTV (you can see how the journalist is least interested in the points that Imran is making).

Perhaps, there is an opportunity for engagement. India could invite people like Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, along with Pakistani investigators, to come talk to the accused and then tell their fellow citizens what they think. How hard is it for us to do this? Let us not be blinded in patriotic anger, for no good can ever come from it. Rabindranath Tagore once wrote, at the height of the freedom struggle, "Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live."

In summary, if we lose this opportunity to stand up for the Indian system that gives defense rights to even the most damned criminal, we might as well give up on democracy altogether, and go back to a feudal system. There is still time - let us not make a bad decision here. We must come down very heavily on politicians who are no less than hooligans when they beat up or threaten lawyers who want to take this case. They should be on the dock for contempt of court, if not treason for subverting the judiciary and the state. We must also come down heavily on the media who claim to be representing the public voice and milk people's anger for their ratings. I think they should be inspired to help the public transcend their anger and go to a place of reason where our judgment is not clouded. All is not lost, as there are some people still willing to come out and defend Kasab. Let us encourage and not vilify them. Let us also consider the opportunity to connect with the sane voices in Pakistan and try a constructive approach in the investigation.

A Love For Shoes: This Has Nothing to Do With Iraq and Yet...

temporal — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:32:20 EST

mera joota hay japani
yeh patloon inglistani
sir pay laal topi roosi
phir bhee dil hay hindustani
shailendra - shri 420

tr:

my shoes are Japanese
this trouser is English
the red cap 'ver my head is Russian
but my heart is all Indian

Shoes had a fascination for me. (Notice the tense?)

The diabolical reason for that fascination was champagne. I had seen some actor drink champagne from his companion's red high heels. I was enamored with the companion too, but geography won over anatomical inquisitiveness by a few thousand miles - more in kilometers.

Backgrounder: Prince Henry of Prussia visited the Everleigh Club of Chicago in 1902. A dancer's shoes flew off, hit a wine bottle, spilling some champagne into the shoe. A guest at the table picked up the shoe and imbibed the wine. As if on a cue, everyone there borrowed a shoe from their companion and drank wine from it. In case the reader is fascinated with this more here.

In the mall, or on the street, passing by a shoe store, eyes inadvertently look for red high heeled shoes - whirling sleek stilettos.

And if encountered on a hourglass bombshell - double the envy. More on Kelly shortly.

***

Leather can be tough. It protects the animal through ravages of heat and cold and when turned into footwear it can withstand the wear and tear of trudging miles upon miles.

Memory is fickle - high school or college it was - when I heard a sweet one warn a friend "jooti khao gay." Gold Rush and Charlie Chaplin aside, there was something in her tone that sent a chill up my spine even though the young lady was so diminutive.

A movie still shows Charlie Chaplin in the

classic shoe-eating scene from The Gold

Rush (1925). (Bettmann/Corbis)

The scar above my left eyebrow, comes in handy when government directives blatantly ask one to mention scars or body marks on official applications. In the pre-scan passport days they even used calligraphy to highlight this minor blemish for foreign officials.

Yes, a leather chappal caused it. She hurled it at my friend J. He ducked. Passports can reveal unusual stories sometimes. [Reading a draft of this M says, 'hmmmmmm.' - translation - so you did not fall on your face?]

Wonder what George W's passport says. He ducked today. Luckily no one was standing behind him. The shoe hurler also called him man's best friend.

I wonder if in Arab culture what is worse, calling one a dog or a pig? Yasmin can you help?

I also wonder where is Kelly LeBrock? Am not sure if it is the shoes or...

Congo Connection 1

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

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

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

‘No problem young man, Welcome’, he countered

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“And then?” I said

“Then, monsieur, the forest will return.”

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

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

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

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

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