Saturday, 28 November 2009
Thursday, 22 October 2009
What a Questionable Question Time
Of course, I tuned in to BBC for today’s Question Time mainly because of the controversial inclusion of the Leader of the British National Party(BNP), Nick Griffin.
I had expected a normal Question Time made up of a balanced panel and audience, but what I saw was a carefully selected panel meant to show that the Whole of Britain is anti- BNP. Hypocrisy Britannia!
This is the fakest and most hopeless Question Time I have ever watched!
It was a childish show of White hypocrites and ethnic minorities idiots!
This Question Time is about British hypocrisy on show!!
The BNP does not control any means of production in the UK and has no prospect at all of getting into government. Even if their views and policies become popular, the quality of the individuals involved mean that it will not win power in the next foreseeable future.
If racists or fascists would rule Britain in the future, it will not be the BNP, but would be refined gentlemen in the mainstream parties.
Demonising the BNP as every White hypocrite and cowardly ethnic minority tries to do at every given opportunity will not stop a serious race relations crisis in Britain in the not very distant future.
Making the Question Time all about BNP and Nick Griffin does will not end racism.
The fact is that Racism has almost died in Britain, but Race Discrimination remains entrenched, albeit disguised by official hypocrisy.
What matters is equal opportunities for all in employment and in all aspects of life including politics. This essential ingredient of a free and democratic Britain does not exist in real terms and the BNP is not to blame, but the hypocrites in the Labour and other mainstream parties.
The BNP does not control the Bar Council which actively discriminates and frustrates Black Africans and other ethnic minorities from becoming Barristers. The BNP does not control the Ministry of Justice which practices nepotism and race discrimination in employment. This rubbish show will not stop race discrimination.
Racism is no longer the issue, because it is now often hidden and in any case cannot be eradicated. What should be in issue is race discrimination!
What I support remains an open and frank discussion about race and all issues that concern ordinary natural British people.
We cannot continue to deceive ourselves that all is well with race relations in Britain.
Hypocrisy would probably do more harm to Britain than the BNP!
The show did show how hopelessly low calibre and probably low intelligence Mr Nick Griffin and the leadership of the BNP are, but carefully selecting some White hypocrites and cowardly ethnic minorities to fill up a Question Time Hall and should like children will do nothing to make Britain a racially harmonious society.
Making the weekly Question Time a BNP moaning Time has not changed the endemic race discrimination and nepotism culture in British public sector!
I had expected a normal Question Time made up of a balanced panel and audience, but what I saw was a carefully selected panel meant to show that the Whole of Britain is anti- BNP. Hypocrisy Britannia!
This is the fakest and most hopeless Question Time I have ever watched!
It was a childish show of White hypocrites and ethnic minorities idiots!
This Question Time is about British hypocrisy on show!!
The BNP does not control any means of production in the UK and has no prospect at all of getting into government. Even if their views and policies become popular, the quality of the individuals involved mean that it will not win power in the next foreseeable future.
If racists or fascists would rule Britain in the future, it will not be the BNP, but would be refined gentlemen in the mainstream parties.
Demonising the BNP as every White hypocrite and cowardly ethnic minority tries to do at every given opportunity will not stop a serious race relations crisis in Britain in the not very distant future.
Making the Question Time all about BNP and Nick Griffin does will not end racism.
The fact is that Racism has almost died in Britain, but Race Discrimination remains entrenched, albeit disguised by official hypocrisy.
What matters is equal opportunities for all in employment and in all aspects of life including politics. This essential ingredient of a free and democratic Britain does not exist in real terms and the BNP is not to blame, but the hypocrites in the Labour and other mainstream parties.
The BNP does not control the Bar Council which actively discriminates and frustrates Black Africans and other ethnic minorities from becoming Barristers. The BNP does not control the Ministry of Justice which practices nepotism and race discrimination in employment. This rubbish show will not stop race discrimination.
Racism is no longer the issue, because it is now often hidden and in any case cannot be eradicated. What should be in issue is race discrimination!
What I support remains an open and frank discussion about race and all issues that concern ordinary natural British people.
We cannot continue to deceive ourselves that all is well with race relations in Britain.
Hypocrisy would probably do more harm to Britain than the BNP!
The show did show how hopelessly low calibre and probably low intelligence Mr Nick Griffin and the leadership of the BNP are, but carefully selecting some White hypocrites and cowardly ethnic minorities to fill up a Question Time Hall and should like children will do nothing to make Britain a racially harmonious society.
Making the weekly Question Time a BNP moaning Time has not changed the endemic race discrimination and nepotism culture in British public sector!
Friday, 9 October 2009
Sorry Chimamanda, We Need The Single Story Of Our Failures!
I have painstakingly watched the beautifully delivered speech by Ms Chimamanda Adichie on “the Dangers of a Single Story”. The main point of her speech is that Europeans have mainly propagated a single story of Africa which is always about our poverty, wars and in short, all about negative things. She basically wants the rest of the world to also acknowledge good things about Africa, especially the fact that not everybody in Africa is starving.
I greatly admire Ms Adichie’s beauty and achievement, but I do not agree with her views in this speech! I find it hard to agree that just for the "feel good desires" of a very few fortunate Africans like her that the world should not be constantly reminded of our inexcusable failures!
I think from the speech that Ms Adichie unfortunately belongs to the group of Nigerians and Black Africans who like to feel good always despite the fact that the realities suggest that we should not!
I believe that supposedly enlightened Black Africans who moan too much about too many negative stories about Africa are doing us no good because we really need more negative news about us to force us all to face our failures and possibly act to change our situations.
I believe there is not even enough negative news about Black Africa and Nigeria in particular and that we need more and more negative news that highlight every senseless deaths in Nigeria, every act of shamelessness, every Aondoaka scandal, every incident of police brutality, human rights abuses and man inhumanity against man in Nigeria, leaving the so-called middleclass or upper-class Nigerians with no place to hide from the shame of being Nigerians.
I believe in telling the truth about Nigeria and the Black race rather than in trying to re-write history like Ms Adichie probably advocates.
I know it is particularly difficult for successful Nigerian individuals and in particular “fortunate” children of both genuinely and dubiously affluent Nigerians in the Europe and America to bear negative news about Nigeria and Africa, but the truth still remains that Black Africa is the most backward continent. We are so backward that the best parts of the best cities in Nigeria do not enjoy a quality and standard of life comparable to the poorest neighbourhood in Western Europe. We all know that some Black individuals who see themselves as very successful want to feel good about themselves by telling good stories about Black Africa, but the truth is that Black Africa (not individuals) is an absolute failure and our failure cannot be remedied by falsehood.
I have met a number of European individuals who apparently had Nigerian friends of affluent backgrounds and thus were given the impression that the average Nigerian lives in the kind of houses you find in posh areas of Victoria Island and Maitama Abuja. I remember telling an English girl in early 2007 that her Nigerian friend might be a daughter of a big thief. I told her the truth that 99% of those that live in the kind of big house she described to me were more likely to be thieves than hard working people. I specifically informed her that there are only two groups of Nigerians who would paint good pictures of life in Nigeria to the outside world – the rogues and the idiots!
My determination in presenting the true picture of Nigeria is not out of hatred for my country, but purely out of passion for genuine development. I passionately want my country to become the economic and technological giant it should be for the upliftment of the physical and mental wellbeing of the Black race!
I do not fail to appreciate that Nigerian individuals are very highly talented and intelligent individuals, but I will never ever suggest that any progress is being made in Nigeria in terms of development. I will never like Ms Adichie say that what they call Nollywood, an epitome of modern Nigerian imperfection, low standard and laziness is a great success simply because Black Africa’s illiterate and semi-illiterate populations patronise their poorly cooked films. I refuse to see anything impressive about Nollywood not because I do not like to appreciate and support a Nigerian industry, but because I desire a Nollywood or any wood from Nigeria that aspires to equate with Hollywood in all respect! I passionately want the best and not half measure out of Nigerian art. Glorifying incompetence and mediocrity simply because you have to support your own or because you want to feel good is to me most ignorant and or insincere!
I believe enlightened Nigerians and Black individuals should be taking the lead in telling more and more negative stories about us to the world because the world really needs to know the full details of our failures in order to understand us better! I believe the world needs to know that Nigeria has no healthy hospital that can be compared with the poorest hospital in Western Europe. I believe the world should know that the worst prison in England is far more habitable than the best university halls of residence in Nigeria. I believe the world should know that Nigerian railway remains at the level Britain left it in 1960. I believe the world needs to know that our failure is such that if we should experience any major natural disaster that our people would die like animals because there are no hospitals and no emergency services and nothing works well in Nigeria.
We cannot continue to hide our failures because we are facing a real danger of another slavery and colonialism!
If you are a Black person and you call yourself enlightened, but are unaware that Black people (Ne gros) are the only major racial group that has failed to prove itself, I doubt your enlightenment!
If you are an educated Black person and you are unaware and or unconcerned about the fact that there is no successful and or organised society of Black people like us anywhere on this planet and none in the pipeline, you probably lack proper education!
Escapism by educated or supposedly enlightened Nigerians and Africans will not bring about the change we desire to take us out of our shameful situation.
We must learn how to wash our dirty linens in public especially when everyone is aware that all our linens are dirty anyway.
Perhaps, one of the greatest lessons we can learn from the White world is the culture of open self criticism or if you like, washing of their dirty linens in public. Perhaps, slavery could have lasted longer than it did if European societies had not permitted internal criticism and enlightened White individuals had not spoken out forcefully against the evils of slave trade. That to me was an example of how the White race washed their dirty linens in public by globally condemning their own, instead of pretending that all was well.
Today, we still delight in western activists exposing every negative they can possibly gather about their countries in a bid to ensure transparency and further development.
We have seen that western governments are constantly striving to be clean because people are not afraid to expose the most negative stories about their countries.
Nigerians and Black Africans in Europe and America bear natural responsibilities for taking the good life we enjoy in our respective locations to Nigeria. The way to do this is not going to show off and or oppress people at home but by advocating for genuine development and we can only achieve genuine development if we stop shying away from our failures. Crying out against too many negative stories about Nigeria and Africa is a great disservice to the ever suffering people of Sudan, Nigeria, Haiti and the entire Black race!
It is an insult to the great majority of Black Africans languishing in poverty, diseases and human rights abuses to propagate good stories out of Nigeria and Black Africa. We must focus more and more on the negative stories as it is probably the only way we can survive!!
John Iteshi
London October 2009
I greatly admire Ms Adichie’s beauty and achievement, but I do not agree with her views in this speech! I find it hard to agree that just for the "feel good desires" of a very few fortunate Africans like her that the world should not be constantly reminded of our inexcusable failures!
I think from the speech that Ms Adichie unfortunately belongs to the group of Nigerians and Black Africans who like to feel good always despite the fact that the realities suggest that we should not!
I believe that supposedly enlightened Black Africans who moan too much about too many negative stories about Africa are doing us no good because we really need more negative news about us to force us all to face our failures and possibly act to change our situations.
I believe there is not even enough negative news about Black Africa and Nigeria in particular and that we need more and more negative news that highlight every senseless deaths in Nigeria, every act of shamelessness, every Aondoaka scandal, every incident of police brutality, human rights abuses and man inhumanity against man in Nigeria, leaving the so-called middleclass or upper-class Nigerians with no place to hide from the shame of being Nigerians.
I believe in telling the truth about Nigeria and the Black race rather than in trying to re-write history like Ms Adichie probably advocates.
I know it is particularly difficult for successful Nigerian individuals and in particular “fortunate” children of both genuinely and dubiously affluent Nigerians in the Europe and America to bear negative news about Nigeria and Africa, but the truth still remains that Black Africa is the most backward continent. We are so backward that the best parts of the best cities in Nigeria do not enjoy a quality and standard of life comparable to the poorest neighbourhood in Western Europe. We all know that some Black individuals who see themselves as very successful want to feel good about themselves by telling good stories about Black Africa, but the truth is that Black Africa (not individuals) is an absolute failure and our failure cannot be remedied by falsehood.
I have met a number of European individuals who apparently had Nigerian friends of affluent backgrounds and thus were given the impression that the average Nigerian lives in the kind of houses you find in posh areas of Victoria Island and Maitama Abuja. I remember telling an English girl in early 2007 that her Nigerian friend might be a daughter of a big thief. I told her the truth that 99% of those that live in the kind of big house she described to me were more likely to be thieves than hard working people. I specifically informed her that there are only two groups of Nigerians who would paint good pictures of life in Nigeria to the outside world – the rogues and the idiots!
My determination in presenting the true picture of Nigeria is not out of hatred for my country, but purely out of passion for genuine development. I passionately want my country to become the economic and technological giant it should be for the upliftment of the physical and mental wellbeing of the Black race!
I do not fail to appreciate that Nigerian individuals are very highly talented and intelligent individuals, but I will never ever suggest that any progress is being made in Nigeria in terms of development. I will never like Ms Adichie say that what they call Nollywood, an epitome of modern Nigerian imperfection, low standard and laziness is a great success simply because Black Africa’s illiterate and semi-illiterate populations patronise their poorly cooked films. I refuse to see anything impressive about Nollywood not because I do not like to appreciate and support a Nigerian industry, but because I desire a Nollywood or any wood from Nigeria that aspires to equate with Hollywood in all respect! I passionately want the best and not half measure out of Nigerian art. Glorifying incompetence and mediocrity simply because you have to support your own or because you want to feel good is to me most ignorant and or insincere!
I believe enlightened Nigerians and Black individuals should be taking the lead in telling more and more negative stories about us to the world because the world really needs to know the full details of our failures in order to understand us better! I believe the world needs to know that Nigeria has no healthy hospital that can be compared with the poorest hospital in Western Europe. I believe the world should know that the worst prison in England is far more habitable than the best university halls of residence in Nigeria. I believe the world should know that Nigerian railway remains at the level Britain left it in 1960. I believe the world needs to know that our failure is such that if we should experience any major natural disaster that our people would die like animals because there are no hospitals and no emergency services and nothing works well in Nigeria.
We cannot continue to hide our failures because we are facing a real danger of another slavery and colonialism!
If you are a Black person and you call yourself enlightened, but are unaware that Black people (Ne gros) are the only major racial group that has failed to prove itself, I doubt your enlightenment!
If you are an educated Black person and you are unaware and or unconcerned about the fact that there is no successful and or organised society of Black people like us anywhere on this planet and none in the pipeline, you probably lack proper education!
Escapism by educated or supposedly enlightened Nigerians and Africans will not bring about the change we desire to take us out of our shameful situation.
We must learn how to wash our dirty linens in public especially when everyone is aware that all our linens are dirty anyway.
Perhaps, one of the greatest lessons we can learn from the White world is the culture of open self criticism or if you like, washing of their dirty linens in public. Perhaps, slavery could have lasted longer than it did if European societies had not permitted internal criticism and enlightened White individuals had not spoken out forcefully against the evils of slave trade. That to me was an example of how the White race washed their dirty linens in public by globally condemning their own, instead of pretending that all was well.
Today, we still delight in western activists exposing every negative they can possibly gather about their countries in a bid to ensure transparency and further development.
We have seen that western governments are constantly striving to be clean because people are not afraid to expose the most negative stories about their countries.
Nigerians and Black Africans in Europe and America bear natural responsibilities for taking the good life we enjoy in our respective locations to Nigeria. The way to do this is not going to show off and or oppress people at home but by advocating for genuine development and we can only achieve genuine development if we stop shying away from our failures. Crying out against too many negative stories about Nigeria and Africa is a great disservice to the ever suffering people of Sudan, Nigeria, Haiti and the entire Black race!
It is an insult to the great majority of Black Africans languishing in poverty, diseases and human rights abuses to propagate good stories out of Nigeria and Black Africa. We must focus more and more on the negative stories as it is probably the only way we can survive!!
John Iteshi
London October 2009
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Gani The Great!
The most prominent, most consistent and most persistent advocate of equity, justice and good governance in Nigeria has departed to rest with his creator!
If the voice of the people is truly the voice of God, he is surely Saint Gani.
Chief Gani Fawehinmi was probably the only Nigerian that commanded respect from most Nigerians irrespective of ethnic origins, political or religious leanings. He was respected not because of his money or political power, but because of his integrity.
As a Christian from the East, I saw him as one great example of the many Nigerian Moslems that appear to me tp live more Christ like than our Christian Bishops.
When I realised a few years ago that Gani was actually a Moslem, the sermon of one of our Reverend Fathers at University of Nigeria Catholic Chaplaincy, in or around 1997, that only God could decide those to make his heaven ( admonishing us against judging those of other religions), began to make real sense to me. This point is crucial to me because I believe Nigerian Christian leaders have a lot to learn from Nigerian Moslems like Gani, Buhari and Idiagbon.
May His clean and gentle soul rest in perfect peace!
I feel most sad that despite his matchless efforts, nothing good is forthcoming in Nigeria. His immediate constituency, the legal profession and the judicial system remain the main fountains of corruption and official wickedness in Nigeria.
The best way to honour him, in my view is for all those that claim to be progressives, civil society etc, including the writer to re-strategise and consider leaving Ya' Adua and other supposedly elected officials, but focus on our corrupt judiciary, corrupt legal profession and corrupt journalism.
I am talking about a commonsense strategy of fighting focused and winnable battles! It easier for lawyers like Femi Falana to make the Nigerian Bar Association a more useful body that can help shape up Nigeria, than to get any Nigerian President or governor loose a sleep over what is written on Sahara reporters.
It is far easier to expose and shame corrupt judges and corrupt journalist than for all the civil societies and so-called progressives to successfully bring down one corrupt federal government appointee!
Nigerian civil right or democracy activists or whatever they call themselves have failed and Gani’s very sad departure must be used as clarion call for self review and redirection!
If the voice of the people is truly the voice of God, he is surely Saint Gani.
Chief Gani Fawehinmi was probably the only Nigerian that commanded respect from most Nigerians irrespective of ethnic origins, political or religious leanings. He was respected not because of his money or political power, but because of his integrity.
As a Christian from the East, I saw him as one great example of the many Nigerian Moslems that appear to me tp live more Christ like than our Christian Bishops.
When I realised a few years ago that Gani was actually a Moslem, the sermon of one of our Reverend Fathers at University of Nigeria Catholic Chaplaincy, in or around 1997, that only God could decide those to make his heaven ( admonishing us against judging those of other religions), began to make real sense to me. This point is crucial to me because I believe Nigerian Christian leaders have a lot to learn from Nigerian Moslems like Gani, Buhari and Idiagbon.
May His clean and gentle soul rest in perfect peace!
I feel most sad that despite his matchless efforts, nothing good is forthcoming in Nigeria. His immediate constituency, the legal profession and the judicial system remain the main fountains of corruption and official wickedness in Nigeria.
The best way to honour him, in my view is for all those that claim to be progressives, civil society etc, including the writer to re-strategise and consider leaving Ya' Adua and other supposedly elected officials, but focus on our corrupt judiciary, corrupt legal profession and corrupt journalism.
I am talking about a commonsense strategy of fighting focused and winnable battles! It easier for lawyers like Femi Falana to make the Nigerian Bar Association a more useful body that can help shape up Nigeria, than to get any Nigerian President or governor loose a sleep over what is written on Sahara reporters.
It is far easier to expose and shame corrupt judges and corrupt journalist than for all the civil societies and so-called progressives to successfully bring down one corrupt federal government appointee!
Nigerian civil right or democracy activists or whatever they call themselves have failed and Gani’s very sad departure must be used as clarion call for self review and redirection!
Friday, 10 July 2009
The Reason Obama is Visiting Ghana is Tourism For Wife and Children
For President Obama so love the Black race that he has chosen to stop over in Ghana on a Saturday after his second European official tour!
Is this still the Black president the world clamoured for?
Has President Obama duped the Black race by using his Blackness to win the presidency?
I know some sentiment blinded Black commentators would quickly challenge any questioning of Obama's Black and or African honesty with such excuses like "he was not elected for Africa or for Black people".
Yea! We all know he was elected for America, but we also know that his Blackness/Africanness made him President and as such he is a historic opportunity for the Black race to take control of our destiny! We equally know that beside the fact that America is the chief of the world that Black African people and governments, perhaps, out of our "inferiority" have always depended on the white world and America in particular for approvals and directions.
We of course know that President George Bush, President Clinton and most previous White Presidents all professed special interests in saving our backward lands and people of Black Africa.
If White Presidents of America showed so much care about us, what excuse can anyone possibly proffer to explain why President Obama, the so-called first Black president of the most powerful country and the De facto President of the world, must not bear the highest responsibility as a Black man for the development of Black Africa and the Black race? We must not accept the stereotype that once a Black man takes charge like becomes harder for Black people!
I repeatedly told my friends that the main reason President Obama is visiting Ghana is because of Slave Trade sites which his wife and children would like to tour and nothing to do with any thing really official!
It was really not hard to think out this fact because I know that some African Americans and Caribbeans flood Ghana because of its developed slave trade tourist attraction. Now, I have read a brief of his itinerary and it says exactly the same thing.
Obama's spin doctors as an afterthought are now pretending that he chose Ghana because of good governance. We all know that Ghana has no better democratic credentials than any of Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Botswana.
I fear that our Black president would become yet another fake Black victory!!
I cannot have anything personal against President Obama. I am only deeply concerned about the Black race and I wholeheartedly pray that enlightened prominent Black men and women who have access to President Obama could let him know that it will be a curse on the Black race, if after his presidency, there is no sign of a Singapore or Malaysia emerging out of Black Africa!
What Black Africa needs is not part of the US budget as some genuinely concerned but misguided White celebrities and others always think. Money is actually more of our curse than a solution to our problem.
What we need from President Obama is leadership. If Prime Minister Tony Blair, a White man was thoughtful enough to set up an African Commission which expectedly failed to achieve any thing because outsiders could not see much of the problems, President Obama, a Black man surely has no excuse not to set up a think thank or any forum to lead discussions for the development of Black Africa and the Black race.
There is no way history will forgive President Obama if he fails to pay the highest dues as a Black man towards the devlopment of African Americans and the Black race. It will not cost one American cent for a visionary President Obama to leave a legacy that would see the emergence of successful societies out of Black Africa.It will only require his genuine interest and right people around him. It is even a project he could delegate to his wife.
President Obama needs to understand that the Black race is at a real risk of being enslaved again in no distant future. Obama need to understand that the future of the Black race lies in a successful Black Africa!
Is this still the Black president the world clamoured for?
Has President Obama duped the Black race by using his Blackness to win the presidency?
I know some sentiment blinded Black commentators would quickly challenge any questioning of Obama's Black and or African honesty with such excuses like "he was not elected for Africa or for Black people".
Yea! We all know he was elected for America, but we also know that his Blackness/Africanness made him President and as such he is a historic opportunity for the Black race to take control of our destiny! We equally know that beside the fact that America is the chief of the world that Black African people and governments, perhaps, out of our "inferiority" have always depended on the white world and America in particular for approvals and directions.
We of course know that President George Bush, President Clinton and most previous White Presidents all professed special interests in saving our backward lands and people of Black Africa.
If White Presidents of America showed so much care about us, what excuse can anyone possibly proffer to explain why President Obama, the so-called first Black president of the most powerful country and the De facto President of the world, must not bear the highest responsibility as a Black man for the development of Black Africa and the Black race? We must not accept the stereotype that once a Black man takes charge like becomes harder for Black people!
I repeatedly told my friends that the main reason President Obama is visiting Ghana is because of Slave Trade sites which his wife and children would like to tour and nothing to do with any thing really official!
It was really not hard to think out this fact because I know that some African Americans and Caribbeans flood Ghana because of its developed slave trade tourist attraction. Now, I have read a brief of his itinerary and it says exactly the same thing.
Obama's spin doctors as an afterthought are now pretending that he chose Ghana because of good governance. We all know that Ghana has no better democratic credentials than any of Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Botswana.
I fear that our Black president would become yet another fake Black victory!!
I cannot have anything personal against President Obama. I am only deeply concerned about the Black race and I wholeheartedly pray that enlightened prominent Black men and women who have access to President Obama could let him know that it will be a curse on the Black race, if after his presidency, there is no sign of a Singapore or Malaysia emerging out of Black Africa!
What Black Africa needs is not part of the US budget as some genuinely concerned but misguided White celebrities and others always think. Money is actually more of our curse than a solution to our problem.
What we need from President Obama is leadership. If Prime Minister Tony Blair, a White man was thoughtful enough to set up an African Commission which expectedly failed to achieve any thing because outsiders could not see much of the problems, President Obama, a Black man surely has no excuse not to set up a think thank or any forum to lead discussions for the development of Black Africa and the Black race.
There is no way history will forgive President Obama if he fails to pay the highest dues as a Black man towards the devlopment of African Americans and the Black race. It will not cost one American cent for a visionary President Obama to leave a legacy that would see the emergence of successful societies out of Black Africa.It will only require his genuine interest and right people around him. It is even a project he could delegate to his wife.
President Obama needs to understand that the Black race is at a real risk of being enslaved again in no distant future. Obama need to understand that the future of the Black race lies in a successful Black Africa!
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Why Must Nigerians Abroad Vote?
This is a response to an email from a group of fellow Nigerians celebrating a recent Nigerian Guardian news publication, “National Assembly Raises Hope of Voting by Nigerians Abroad”, on 18 April 2009.
Dear All,
I feel quite disappointed that supposedly better enlightened and informed Nigerians abroad see the issue of making provisions for Nigerians abroad to vote as a key issue they should be clamouring for or celebrating about our Nigeria.
In my view the questions we ought to first ask ourselves are:
1. How crucial to the development of genuine democracy in Nigeria, is it that provisions must be made for Nigerians abroad to vote?
2. Knowing, that one of the cardinal problems with our democracy is that genuine elections hardly ever hold especially since recent times (since 1998 in particular), why should the interest of a tiny minority of Nigerians abroad supersede the interest of the overwhelming majority of our suffering compatriots at home. To put it more succinctly, why must Nigerians abroad vote when Nigerians in Nigeria have never really been given free and inalienable right to vote in elections?
3. How much of a priority is it to the general development of Nigeria that provisions for Nigerians abroad to vote must be made soon?
4. What is the wisdom of creating for our largely dubious and wasteful “public servants” another avenue for diverting and wasting our resources in the name of voting for Nigerians abroad?
5. What have Nigerians abroad contributed to the enthronement of democracy and good governance in Nigeria?
My fellow Nigerians in civilised societies of Europe and America, we bear a natural responsibility, to help save Nigeria and the Black race from inferiority and backwardness. Having escaped real poverty and deprivation of fundamental freedoms in Nigeria, we are in the best position to fight for the rights of ordinary Nigerians at the highest levels in the world. By virtue of our very significant presence and influence as immigrants in Europe and America, we have the opportunity to influence positive changes in Nigeria by influencing some local and foreign policies of governments of our host countries.
It is our greatest failure that we have not done any significant thing towards genuine development in Nigeria. We have not shown any proper or adequate concern for suffering Nigerians beyond sending monies to our relatives to celebrate their betterments. Rather than engage ourselves with honest efforts towards helping to develop our motherland, we have generally channelled our energies towards cosmetic projects such as voting for Nigerians abroad and idiotic programmes like “Miss Nigeria UK” which I painfully watched NIDOE discuss on or around 15 July 2006 or worst of all, going to queue along with sycophants for the attention of elected officials in Nigeria.
We must begin to do our part by first of all properly organising ourselves and genuinely giving ourselves the opportunity to understand the problems underpinning Nigeria’s development. It is a big shame that there has never been any genuine effort by enlightened and distinguished Nigerians either in Europe or in America, to sit down and deliberate on what we can do about our motherland. One does not intend to ignore the significant efforts of hundreds of pockets of organisations springing up everyday among Nigerians abroad including the great jobs organisations like Sahara Reporters are doing, but the fact remains that without solid umbrella organisations or forums of Nigerian elders and leaders of thought in Europe and America no significant impact will ever be made on the ground in Nigeria.
I do not advocate that Nigerians abroad should be militant or should be at war with Nigerian leadership, but simply that Nigerians abroad are capable of influencing the policies of our “White masters” in the EU and US on Nigeria and Black Africa as well as influencing real changes in Nigeria.
We can influence western policies on foreign aid, trade, legitimacy of African government etc by organising ourselves under reputable bodies and forums that study situations on the grounds in Black Africa as affected people and advocate our own people oriented ideas. Enlightened Black Africans (led by Nigerians) abroad can do much better than the likes of Bob Geldoff or some sentimental White journalists in representing Black Africa’s interest before western governments and global bodies.
We can also influence policies in our host countries that can directly check the culture of embezzlement of public funds by our state and federal government officials by influencing the enactment of certain laws where necessary to punish and repatriate our stolen funds without fear or favour. This is probably the easiest work that Nigerians abroad can do with little resources and efforts other than just sincerity.
We can directly influence real developments in Nigeria and by extension the entire Black Africa and even the Carribbean, by being genuinely committed to taking our wonderful Great Britain, Ireland, US, Canada etc to Nigeria. It is probably evil on our part that in our respective locations in Europe and America, we enjoy fundamental freedoms and at the slighted provocation seek redress in courts and tribunals with little or no mago mago or obstruction to justice, but have never made any significant effort at ensuring that such good things of life reach our people back home.
I know that some of us do believe that it must take us hundreds of years to become like our civilised host countries, but I do believe that we owe our compatriots at home the natural duty of care to make our own contributions towards alleviating their sufferings. Alleviating the sufferings of our people at how cannot be achieved by sending some textbooks and even hospital equipments to some privileged schools and hospitals as some of us do, but by helping to impact fundamental changes in the way our people perceive and run modern governments and leadership.
Since we are overtly more excited about voting in elections, one immediate job for enlightened Nigerians whether home or abroad before ever contemplating about making provisions for Nigerian abroad to vote is to device and advocate for the best ways to conduct free and civilised elections in Nigeria where there would be no need to employ gunmen or some dubious security men to annihilate oppositions.
I have since 2001, out of field experience of elections in Nigeria been proposing for audio-visual voting method (see for e.g. http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/john-iteshi/audio-visual-voting-method.html ) as a foolproof and inexpensive solution to election violence and malpractices, but unsurprisingly, being an undistinguished individual, that idea has never been considered by more than just a few enlightened individuals.
Genuine and or well organised Nigerian forums in Europe and America are therefore invited to deliberate on my idea or better ideas toward campaigning both internationally and locally for the best election methods that will usher in genuine democracy and development in Nigeria and Black Africa.
Until we have paid our dues by genuinely doing something for the development of our country and not just for our personal development, our Nigeria and Black Africa will remain backward and exploitable by people of other racial groups. The journey towards building successful societies (not individuals) out of Black Africa and Black Carribbean must start with enlightened Black individuals especially those with all the opportunities to influence the views of the masters of the world at the highest level. Nigerians abroad must start working responsibly towards taking genuine development to Nigeria not by going to lobby for some ludicrous projects called “Diaspora Village, but by genuinely contributing ideas and projects aimed at building a civilised society out of Nigeria.
Count me in for any project aimed at genuine development in Nigeria including discussions on how we can expose Nigerians who have stolen public funds to acquire properties in Europe and America and their collaborators. Count me out in programmes and projects geared towards self aggrandizements on the back of our suffering compatriots in Nigeria. Count me out of ridiculous and primitive ideas like Miss Nigeria UK or Diaspora Village!!
Yours,
John Iteshi
Dear All,
I feel quite disappointed that supposedly better enlightened and informed Nigerians abroad see the issue of making provisions for Nigerians abroad to vote as a key issue they should be clamouring for or celebrating about our Nigeria.
In my view the questions we ought to first ask ourselves are:
1. How crucial to the development of genuine democracy in Nigeria, is it that provisions must be made for Nigerians abroad to vote?
2. Knowing, that one of the cardinal problems with our democracy is that genuine elections hardly ever hold especially since recent times (since 1998 in particular), why should the interest of a tiny minority of Nigerians abroad supersede the interest of the overwhelming majority of our suffering compatriots at home. To put it more succinctly, why must Nigerians abroad vote when Nigerians in Nigeria have never really been given free and inalienable right to vote in elections?
3. How much of a priority is it to the general development of Nigeria that provisions for Nigerians abroad to vote must be made soon?
4. What is the wisdom of creating for our largely dubious and wasteful “public servants” another avenue for diverting and wasting our resources in the name of voting for Nigerians abroad?
5. What have Nigerians abroad contributed to the enthronement of democracy and good governance in Nigeria?
My fellow Nigerians in civilised societies of Europe and America, we bear a natural responsibility, to help save Nigeria and the Black race from inferiority and backwardness. Having escaped real poverty and deprivation of fundamental freedoms in Nigeria, we are in the best position to fight for the rights of ordinary Nigerians at the highest levels in the world. By virtue of our very significant presence and influence as immigrants in Europe and America, we have the opportunity to influence positive changes in Nigeria by influencing some local and foreign policies of governments of our host countries.
It is our greatest failure that we have not done any significant thing towards genuine development in Nigeria. We have not shown any proper or adequate concern for suffering Nigerians beyond sending monies to our relatives to celebrate their betterments. Rather than engage ourselves with honest efforts towards helping to develop our motherland, we have generally channelled our energies towards cosmetic projects such as voting for Nigerians abroad and idiotic programmes like “Miss Nigeria UK” which I painfully watched NIDOE discuss on or around 15 July 2006 or worst of all, going to queue along with sycophants for the attention of elected officials in Nigeria.
We must begin to do our part by first of all properly organising ourselves and genuinely giving ourselves the opportunity to understand the problems underpinning Nigeria’s development. It is a big shame that there has never been any genuine effort by enlightened and distinguished Nigerians either in Europe or in America, to sit down and deliberate on what we can do about our motherland. One does not intend to ignore the significant efforts of hundreds of pockets of organisations springing up everyday among Nigerians abroad including the great jobs organisations like Sahara Reporters are doing, but the fact remains that without solid umbrella organisations or forums of Nigerian elders and leaders of thought in Europe and America no significant impact will ever be made on the ground in Nigeria.
I do not advocate that Nigerians abroad should be militant or should be at war with Nigerian leadership, but simply that Nigerians abroad are capable of influencing the policies of our “White masters” in the EU and US on Nigeria and Black Africa as well as influencing real changes in Nigeria.
We can influence western policies on foreign aid, trade, legitimacy of African government etc by organising ourselves under reputable bodies and forums that study situations on the grounds in Black Africa as affected people and advocate our own people oriented ideas. Enlightened Black Africans (led by Nigerians) abroad can do much better than the likes of Bob Geldoff or some sentimental White journalists in representing Black Africa’s interest before western governments and global bodies.
We can also influence policies in our host countries that can directly check the culture of embezzlement of public funds by our state and federal government officials by influencing the enactment of certain laws where necessary to punish and repatriate our stolen funds without fear or favour. This is probably the easiest work that Nigerians abroad can do with little resources and efforts other than just sincerity.
We can directly influence real developments in Nigeria and by extension the entire Black Africa and even the Carribbean, by being genuinely committed to taking our wonderful Great Britain, Ireland, US, Canada etc to Nigeria. It is probably evil on our part that in our respective locations in Europe and America, we enjoy fundamental freedoms and at the slighted provocation seek redress in courts and tribunals with little or no mago mago or obstruction to justice, but have never made any significant effort at ensuring that such good things of life reach our people back home.
I know that some of us do believe that it must take us hundreds of years to become like our civilised host countries, but I do believe that we owe our compatriots at home the natural duty of care to make our own contributions towards alleviating their sufferings. Alleviating the sufferings of our people at how cannot be achieved by sending some textbooks and even hospital equipments to some privileged schools and hospitals as some of us do, but by helping to impact fundamental changes in the way our people perceive and run modern governments and leadership.
Since we are overtly more excited about voting in elections, one immediate job for enlightened Nigerians whether home or abroad before ever contemplating about making provisions for Nigerian abroad to vote is to device and advocate for the best ways to conduct free and civilised elections in Nigeria where there would be no need to employ gunmen or some dubious security men to annihilate oppositions.
I have since 2001, out of field experience of elections in Nigeria been proposing for audio-visual voting method (see for e.g. http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/john-iteshi/audio-visual-voting-method.html ) as a foolproof and inexpensive solution to election violence and malpractices, but unsurprisingly, being an undistinguished individual, that idea has never been considered by more than just a few enlightened individuals.
Genuine and or well organised Nigerian forums in Europe and America are therefore invited to deliberate on my idea or better ideas toward campaigning both internationally and locally for the best election methods that will usher in genuine democracy and development in Nigeria and Black Africa.
Until we have paid our dues by genuinely doing something for the development of our country and not just for our personal development, our Nigeria and Black Africa will remain backward and exploitable by people of other racial groups. The journey towards building successful societies (not individuals) out of Black Africa and Black Carribbean must start with enlightened Black individuals especially those with all the opportunities to influence the views of the masters of the world at the highest level. Nigerians abroad must start working responsibly towards taking genuine development to Nigeria not by going to lobby for some ludicrous projects called “Diaspora Village, but by genuinely contributing ideas and projects aimed at building a civilised society out of Nigeria.
Count me in for any project aimed at genuine development in Nigeria including discussions on how we can expose Nigerians who have stolen public funds to acquire properties in Europe and America and their collaborators. Count me out in programmes and projects geared towards self aggrandizements on the back of our suffering compatriots in Nigeria. Count me out of ridiculous and primitive ideas like Miss Nigeria UK or Diaspora Village!!
Yours,
John Iteshi
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Will President Obama Save the Black Race?
Perhaps, Barrack Obama is the greatest thing that has happened to the Black race since the independence era. The joy and unity Obama has brought among Black people irrespective of their colonial backgrounds can only be compared to the kind of unity of purpose and belief in shared destiny said to have existed in the Black world during the 1950s through to 1970s before the White colonizers driven from most of our lands regrouped and conquered our brains. The hope for President Obama has ecstatically gripped not only African Americans, in the Black world, but apparently all people of Black African ancestry all over the world. President Obama commands the kind of acceptance and adulation no other Black person has ever attracted in modern history.
President Obama appears to be Gods timely answer to our prayers for unity and leadership. It appears the prophecy of the great Bob Marley and the aspirations of our great leaders like Kwame Nkrumah are finally coming to pass. Knowing that lack of unity of purpose and lack of leadership have blighted the Black race, having a person generally respected and accepted as our leader by all Black people may signal the beginning of our salvation from backwardness. President Obama appears to have provided the much needed unity and leadership needed to propel the Black race towards development and the improvement of the lives of our people.
Of course, President Obama is not coming to be the President of the Black race more than the President of the United States of America, but it is a matter of fact that President Obama will equally be the president of all the presidents of the Black race. He is being elected to lead America first and foremost, but the primary purpose of the White liberals who groomed and marketed the “project Black president” to the world has always been to give African Americans and the Black race this extraordinary opportunity. The making of President Obama by White liberals has always been more about making history by installing a Black president than any other interest. To the cream of White liberals, the issue of President Obama’s policies for America has always been far less important than the interest in ensuring the emergence of a Black president.
The almighty western media shares the dream for a Black president and all over the white world; racism has almost disappeared for the sake of President Obama. Far beyond America, from London to Berlin, Rome and all over the White world all you are allowed to say aloud is support for President Obama, if you are not and do not wish to be branded a racist. Call it bullying or hypocrisy if you like, but it is official! A BBC weekend programme, Reporters last Saturday night featured a White reporter touring the American State of Virginia to interview people about the election. He went to a café and asked a White lady, who she would vote for and when she replied McCain he asked her whether she was not voting Obama because he is Black. Meanwhile, he did not ask the Black woman he later interviewed whether she was voting Obama because he is black.
BBC news and documentary coverage of the US election appear more like campaigns for Obama than information to the public. There is little doubt that the cream of British media and the society have officially adopted Barrack Obama.
Prime Minster Gordon Brown and his ministers have voiced aloud their support for President Obama. Across Europe, we hear that Germany and possibly some other European countries are declaring that they are either Obamaland or Obama-friendly. There is no doubt that a powerful group of White men supported firmly by the cream of the western media are committed to hand African Americans and the Black race our greatest opportunity ever, to change our world. It appears the Black world has no choice but to embrace Barrack Obama.
However, the intolerant and crude manner with which the cream of the American and British media are manipulating African Americans and bullying White Americans to vote Obama, besides being very annoying, appear to undermine the quality and potency of President Obama. It is deeply worrying to think that President Obama may be yet another fake or half or useless victory for the Black race. It is very sad that Obama is actually not a Black victory, but a victory for some self righteous White men who made him. President Obama has been made with little or no Black contribution except as followers.
One would not advocate a segregated America where Blacks isolate themselves and do their own thing, but it worries one deeply that African Americans and indeed the whole Black race have remained so disunited and conquerable, that the White media can drive, push and shovel us as they please. We have been proven so weak and vulnerable by the way and manner some self-righteous white men and their media now determine what is good for the Black race, when and how they get it.
Today only leaders of Black Africa endorsed by white men in New York and London become good leaders no matter how corrupt and ho horribly they treat their people. We have become much weaker and useless as a people that our independences now seem like massive mistakes. Hence, the grooming and global marketing of brand Obama actually demonstrate more of our weakness and failure as a people than our resurgence. It has and will always continue to undermine our existence and survival as a people to allow ourselves to remain swayable as we are today.
It is gladdening to see an unprecedented level of unity of purpose and commitment among African Americans today for President Obama, but one cannot suppress the urge to wonder where this highly motivated and united African America had been that we never heard of it since the time of Martin Luther King Junior. If African Americans can be so well mobilised to the extent that we saw in a recent BBC panorama, even children as young as under 10 year olds begging money on the roadside (an act the western media of the old would have termed child abuse) to support the emergence of a Black president. We now seem to have an African America that is almost 90 per cent united for one good cause, but it is baffling why African Americans have never since the 1960s civil rights movement, mobilised themselves in a similar way towards greater participation and embracing of the great American ideals. The shameful fact that Obama is currently the only Black senator out of 100 elected Senators despite Blacks constituting about 13% of the population further highlights the seriousness of the failure of Black people in America and that having a Black president should not have been the priority of African Americans. Integrating themselves properly and taking full part in the socio-political development of America as natural Americans should have been the main priority of African Americans. Starting the renaissance of African America with President Obama appears like building from the top!
Of course, President Obama could still fulfil our dream of building a better integrated and successful African America and Black Africa and the Carribbean, despite the way and manner of his emergence. Of course, if he possesses the right vision, he could still be the messiah we are waiting for irrespective of how or who made him what he is. There are many signs, that Barrack Obama is a really nice bloke. His continued link with his people in Black Africa is particularly commendable, but there are signs that suggest that President Obama could be another wasted opportunity for the Black race.
The fact that nobody has really heard him express serious concern about the situation of Black Africa is deeply worrying. All that can be inferred is that he shares the White liberal view that African America and Black Africa should not take responsibilities for their inexcusable failures, but must continue complaining about slavery and colonialism.
Even if President Obama has the best intentions for African Americans and the Black race the lack of any consensus and or any ideological framework for our development would mean that his best intentions would not yield any progress on the ground. We must not fail to realise that the Black race has already enjoyed great opportunities although not as great as what we are about to, courtesy of President George W. Bush whom some dubious journalists have so wickedly demonised as racist. The rare opportunity of having Colin Powel and Condoleezza Rice in the most high profile political positions ever to be occupied by any Black person along with Koffi Annan as Secretary General of the UN provided the Black race the chance to chart a new course, but we blew it. The principal reason why we wasted the opportunity of using Powel/Condi and Koffi Annan to organise the Black race must be the lack of structures (in terms of organised people, forums and or ideological frameworks) on the ground and not lack of good intentions on the part of those leaders. Those who follow the zombie view that great Black leaders like Condoleezza Rice do not care about Black people fail to understand that having our own up there without an organised people on the ground would result in a wasted opportunity. No where in this world do people build from the top!
Modern governments are based on well reasoned policies. Positive impacts are made though sound policies. A President Obama will only help African Americans and the Black race through policies and programmes and not through waving of some magic wands. The only way president Obama can save African Americans and the Black race from inferiority and backwardness would be through well thought out policies. The fact that we do not have any consensus and any Black led ideological framework for our development may mean President Obama’s African policy would be more financial aid and more IMF loans in line with contemporary white liberal beliefs.
Enlightened Black leaders across the world must get organised now to ensure that President Obama delivers the good leadership he is expected to deliver. He will not succeed in changing the status of the Black race without some useful structures on the ground. Hence enlightened Black individuals must start organising themselves now, not for selfish gains, but for the harnessing, debating and building of ideas and understanding for the development of the Black race. The most likely consequence of Black people not organising themselves now is that Rock Star policies like Band Aid and make Poverty History will define Obama’s African policy.
We must understand that having President Obama is not just for feeling good that we have our own person there, but seriously about our greatest opportunity to organise ourselves and pursue development like other racial groups. Every enlightened Black person whether as African American or Caribbean or Black African, must be worried that there is no civilised or properly organised society of Black people anywhere on this planet and that being able to organise ourselves is our greatest collective challenge. The White people giving us this great opportunity are very well aware of our shameful situation and probably want us to take our destinies in our own hands. We must therefore not waste this great opportunity to prove that we are not inferior by utilising it towards building civilised and successful African American communities and successful societies out of Black Africa and the Caribbean. Even if in the end Americans decide otherwise, we must not abandon President Obama as the rallying point for our renaissance! We must not fail again!!
John Iteshi
London
29 October 2008
President Obama appears to be Gods timely answer to our prayers for unity and leadership. It appears the prophecy of the great Bob Marley and the aspirations of our great leaders like Kwame Nkrumah are finally coming to pass. Knowing that lack of unity of purpose and lack of leadership have blighted the Black race, having a person generally respected and accepted as our leader by all Black people may signal the beginning of our salvation from backwardness. President Obama appears to have provided the much needed unity and leadership needed to propel the Black race towards development and the improvement of the lives of our people.
Of course, President Obama is not coming to be the President of the Black race more than the President of the United States of America, but it is a matter of fact that President Obama will equally be the president of all the presidents of the Black race. He is being elected to lead America first and foremost, but the primary purpose of the White liberals who groomed and marketed the “project Black president” to the world has always been to give African Americans and the Black race this extraordinary opportunity. The making of President Obama by White liberals has always been more about making history by installing a Black president than any other interest. To the cream of White liberals, the issue of President Obama’s policies for America has always been far less important than the interest in ensuring the emergence of a Black president.
The almighty western media shares the dream for a Black president and all over the white world; racism has almost disappeared for the sake of President Obama. Far beyond America, from London to Berlin, Rome and all over the White world all you are allowed to say aloud is support for President Obama, if you are not and do not wish to be branded a racist. Call it bullying or hypocrisy if you like, but it is official! A BBC weekend programme, Reporters last Saturday night featured a White reporter touring the American State of Virginia to interview people about the election. He went to a café and asked a White lady, who she would vote for and when she replied McCain he asked her whether she was not voting Obama because he is Black. Meanwhile, he did not ask the Black woman he later interviewed whether she was voting Obama because he is black.
BBC news and documentary coverage of the US election appear more like campaigns for Obama than information to the public. There is little doubt that the cream of British media and the society have officially adopted Barrack Obama.
Prime Minster Gordon Brown and his ministers have voiced aloud their support for President Obama. Across Europe, we hear that Germany and possibly some other European countries are declaring that they are either Obamaland or Obama-friendly. There is no doubt that a powerful group of White men supported firmly by the cream of the western media are committed to hand African Americans and the Black race our greatest opportunity ever, to change our world. It appears the Black world has no choice but to embrace Barrack Obama.
However, the intolerant and crude manner with which the cream of the American and British media are manipulating African Americans and bullying White Americans to vote Obama, besides being very annoying, appear to undermine the quality and potency of President Obama. It is deeply worrying to think that President Obama may be yet another fake or half or useless victory for the Black race. It is very sad that Obama is actually not a Black victory, but a victory for some self righteous White men who made him. President Obama has been made with little or no Black contribution except as followers.
One would not advocate a segregated America where Blacks isolate themselves and do their own thing, but it worries one deeply that African Americans and indeed the whole Black race have remained so disunited and conquerable, that the White media can drive, push and shovel us as they please. We have been proven so weak and vulnerable by the way and manner some self-righteous white men and their media now determine what is good for the Black race, when and how they get it.
Today only leaders of Black Africa endorsed by white men in New York and London become good leaders no matter how corrupt and ho horribly they treat their people. We have become much weaker and useless as a people that our independences now seem like massive mistakes. Hence, the grooming and global marketing of brand Obama actually demonstrate more of our weakness and failure as a people than our resurgence. It has and will always continue to undermine our existence and survival as a people to allow ourselves to remain swayable as we are today.
It is gladdening to see an unprecedented level of unity of purpose and commitment among African Americans today for President Obama, but one cannot suppress the urge to wonder where this highly motivated and united African America had been that we never heard of it since the time of Martin Luther King Junior. If African Americans can be so well mobilised to the extent that we saw in a recent BBC panorama, even children as young as under 10 year olds begging money on the roadside (an act the western media of the old would have termed child abuse) to support the emergence of a Black president. We now seem to have an African America that is almost 90 per cent united for one good cause, but it is baffling why African Americans have never since the 1960s civil rights movement, mobilised themselves in a similar way towards greater participation and embracing of the great American ideals. The shameful fact that Obama is currently the only Black senator out of 100 elected Senators despite Blacks constituting about 13% of the population further highlights the seriousness of the failure of Black people in America and that having a Black president should not have been the priority of African Americans. Integrating themselves properly and taking full part in the socio-political development of America as natural Americans should have been the main priority of African Americans. Starting the renaissance of African America with President Obama appears like building from the top!
Of course, President Obama could still fulfil our dream of building a better integrated and successful African America and Black Africa and the Carribbean, despite the way and manner of his emergence. Of course, if he possesses the right vision, he could still be the messiah we are waiting for irrespective of how or who made him what he is. There are many signs, that Barrack Obama is a really nice bloke. His continued link with his people in Black Africa is particularly commendable, but there are signs that suggest that President Obama could be another wasted opportunity for the Black race.
The fact that nobody has really heard him express serious concern about the situation of Black Africa is deeply worrying. All that can be inferred is that he shares the White liberal view that African America and Black Africa should not take responsibilities for their inexcusable failures, but must continue complaining about slavery and colonialism.
Even if President Obama has the best intentions for African Americans and the Black race the lack of any consensus and or any ideological framework for our development would mean that his best intentions would not yield any progress on the ground. We must not fail to realise that the Black race has already enjoyed great opportunities although not as great as what we are about to, courtesy of President George W. Bush whom some dubious journalists have so wickedly demonised as racist. The rare opportunity of having Colin Powel and Condoleezza Rice in the most high profile political positions ever to be occupied by any Black person along with Koffi Annan as Secretary General of the UN provided the Black race the chance to chart a new course, but we blew it. The principal reason why we wasted the opportunity of using Powel/Condi and Koffi Annan to organise the Black race must be the lack of structures (in terms of organised people, forums and or ideological frameworks) on the ground and not lack of good intentions on the part of those leaders. Those who follow the zombie view that great Black leaders like Condoleezza Rice do not care about Black people fail to understand that having our own up there without an organised people on the ground would result in a wasted opportunity. No where in this world do people build from the top!
Modern governments are based on well reasoned policies. Positive impacts are made though sound policies. A President Obama will only help African Americans and the Black race through policies and programmes and not through waving of some magic wands. The only way president Obama can save African Americans and the Black race from inferiority and backwardness would be through well thought out policies. The fact that we do not have any consensus and any Black led ideological framework for our development may mean President Obama’s African policy would be more financial aid and more IMF loans in line with contemporary white liberal beliefs.
Enlightened Black leaders across the world must get organised now to ensure that President Obama delivers the good leadership he is expected to deliver. He will not succeed in changing the status of the Black race without some useful structures on the ground. Hence enlightened Black individuals must start organising themselves now, not for selfish gains, but for the harnessing, debating and building of ideas and understanding for the development of the Black race. The most likely consequence of Black people not organising themselves now is that Rock Star policies like Band Aid and make Poverty History will define Obama’s African policy.
We must understand that having President Obama is not just for feeling good that we have our own person there, but seriously about our greatest opportunity to organise ourselves and pursue development like other racial groups. Every enlightened Black person whether as African American or Caribbean or Black African, must be worried that there is no civilised or properly organised society of Black people anywhere on this planet and that being able to organise ourselves is our greatest collective challenge. The White people giving us this great opportunity are very well aware of our shameful situation and probably want us to take our destinies in our own hands. We must therefore not waste this great opportunity to prove that we are not inferior by utilising it towards building civilised and successful African American communities and successful societies out of Black Africa and the Caribbean. Even if in the end Americans decide otherwise, we must not abandon President Obama as the rallying point for our renaissance! We must not fail again!!
John Iteshi
London
29 October 2008
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