on the economic meltdown

Here's what I read daily:

The Mind-Body Politic by libertarian thinker, Lila Rajiva. I like her irreverent approach, and the breadth of her sources.

Counterpunch runs analysis and opinion from the far Left - everything I can't learn from the mainstream press.

Performers, Critics, Masks

I'm in a 3-day conference on African and Afro-Caribbean Performance at the University of California, Berkeley.

So much to take in. My mind's already overflowing with what I heard today:

Gerard Aching's keynote on trangressive performance in Trinidad's Carnival.

Christopher Connelly on the impact of post-election violence on grassroots development theatre in Kenya.

Awo Mana Asiedu on feminist theatre in Ghana.

Ariel Scott on the choreography of Fagaala, a dance piece on the Rwandan genocide by Senegalese Compagne Jant-Bi.

Kevin Wetmore on the staging of Soyinka's Samarkand as an all day ritual festival in LA.

And that's just Day One!

I'm skipping tonight's screening of U-Carmen eKhayelitsha. Lead actress, opera singer Pauline Malefane, is here in person for the conference and will do a live Q and A after - which I do feel wistful about missing. But I need to put in some hours of work to justify spending all day at the conference tomorrow.......

MacArthur "Genius" Grants 2008

were announced yesterday.

And they include - oh fabulous day! - the brilliant Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie.

Read what I said about her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, in 2006.

And about anticipating her second, Half Of A Yellow Sun. Which I devoured in two days, totally gripped by its scale of vision, skill of execution, breadth of imagination. The final page made me cry.

Another thing to smile about: of the twenty-five MacArthur fellows named, fifteen are women. It's exciting just to read about their phenomenal work. Even though it makes me feel like a total underachiever :-).

Mary Chapin Carpenter

was thrumming through my mind when I woke this morning.

Her 1996 CD, A Place In The World, was my soundtrack the year I moved to America. She serenaded my quest for my own place in the world, as I went from Ohio to New Orleans, across the Southwest, and up the Pacific Coast. All my possessions in a black and purple backpack, along with three slender talisman books: poems by Sujata Bhatt and Ben Okri, and Rilke's Letters To A Young Poet.

I know most of the songs by heart. The lines float up in liminal moments:


And I want something that not only feels right
Something that's based on a real life
One thing that's worth every page of the deal
Not some old line, or rose-colored dream
Not some other time, you know what I mean
When I tell you that this is all that it seems,
and that's real

From: That's Real

And here for a moment is every place in the world and ideas are like stars

They fall from the sky, they run round your head
They litter your sleep as they beckon
They'd teach you to fly without wires or thread
They promise if only you'd let them

For the language of longing never had words, so how did you speak from your heart
Yet here is a box that swears it has heard that ideas are like stars

From: Ideas Are Like Stars

Some people need to know what to expect
Need to keep control, need to keep one step
Ahead of every chance, as if chance decides
Who it's gonna pass, who it will reward
They don't understand, chances don't keep score
They just find us when we're there to find

From: Sudden Gift Of Fate

A Feminist Is

a woman who negotiates herself into a position where she has choices.

— Arundhati Roy

That's my new favourite definition of feminist. Thank you, Anida, for introducing me to it!

Reads Like Poetry

is what Raj Patel, author of the internationally-acclaimed Stuffed and Starved, says of the Right To Food statement from Kenya's Peoples' Parliament. He continues:

It's well worth reminding oneself that there is anger in peoples' bellies, even when there's nothing else.

I forwarded the statement to Raj last week. I learned of his brilliant work from colleagues at Durban's Centre for Civil Society, and wanted to connect it to the movements we're building in Kenya.

Turns out he's long been a fan of my poetry. Who'da thunk it?

And that we're both in the Bay Area right now! Which means we get to have lunch, and discuss effective strategies to challenge AGRA.

Equinox

Today's the day the sun crosses the Equator and returns to the southern hemisphere. One of the two days in the year when every part of the world receives equal hours of sunlight.

Feels like it should be a global symbol of justice movements everywhere. And a day to highlight all the inequities - debt, trade, resource consumption, environmental costs - between the North and South.

Right To Eat

From Bunge La Mwananchi, the Peoples' Parliament of Kenya.
Contact: George Nyongesa, grnyongesa@yahoo.com
+254 720 451 235

We stand for the right to food for all Kenyans!

We are hungry and angry Kenyans who demand that the government ensures the right to food for all Kenyans. We are tired of eating “airburgers”. We are tired of watching our children go to bed hungry. We can no longer keep to the-skip-a-meal program.

This government cannot claim to uphold any human rights if it does not, at minimum, ensure the right to food.

In a country where the President, Prime Minister and Vice-President will spend over Ksh.2.4 billion this year on:

- their households,
- public relations service,
- lavish state functions,
- political party retreats,
- unnecessary paid media advertisements,

it is unacceptable that the government does not subsidize basic commodities consumed by ordinary Kenyans, such as unga (maize meal), kerosene, milk, bread and rice.

In a country where the government pays politicians' wives Ksh. 9.6 million per annum, it is scandalous that our people, hidden in the slums, are starving.

In country where the rich feed their dogs and cats on meat, milk, chicken and biscuits, it is despicable that our children are malnourished. Eat rats and wild berries to survive. Miss school because of hunger.

On May 31st, 2008, hundreds of Kenyans marched through Nairobi streets to protest unchecked increases in food prices. The government, through the police, disrupted, teargassed and beat up women and children in this peaceful procession. Activists were arrested and charged with illegal assembly, despite the procession meeting all legal requirements. The police continue to harass, arbitrarily arrest and threaten Bunge La Mwananchi members across the country.

Since then we have been involved in a protracted court process that disrupts our families, stresses our small finances, derails our quest for livelihoods.

God put enough food in this country for all our needs and not for some people's greed.

If the rich would only choose to grow rich slower, all of us can have jobs. No member of the ruling elite should collect salaries for two, three or four paid positions while we have none at all.

All human beings are born equal. Socio-economic structures created by some selfish individuals shackle us in hunger, unemployment, poverty. The pangs of hunger, our thirst for clean water, the cold nights on sidewalks, the pinch of poverty, the stench of poor living conditions, cannot wait for the year 2030!

We demand urgent government intervention. As a start, food must be affordable to all Kenyans.

Bunge la Mwananchi

BarCampAfrica-Silicon Valley

On October 11th, I'll be on Google's Mountain View Campus, splashing around joyfully in the electric sea of creativity, community, and connectivity that is BarCampAfrica.

You can be there too - in person or remotely. They're offering a limited number of scholarships to offset the $25 participation fee (but can't help with travel at this time). If you'd like one, email barcampafrica@gmail.com, explaining your position and what you'd like to contribute.