Category Archives: Poetry

Mazisi Kunene

A great poet from KwaZulu-Natal, Mazisi Kunene, passed away on August 12th. The Los Angeles Times has a nice summary of his life and work. A Foundation Trust has been established in his name to continue his legacy.

His writing was banned at various times by the South African government. The LA Times points out, however, that the verse narrative “Emperor Shaka the Great: A Zulu Epic” (1979) was apparently distributed as a form of inspiration to the resistance fighters who opposed apartheid.

From Book One: The prophecy (page 1):

After the night has covered the earth
Rouse us from the nightmare of forgetfulness
So that we may narrate their tales.
You will see them, the Forefathers, by the brightness of the
  moon.
You will see their great processions as they enter the mountain!
Eternally their anthems emerge.
How then can we be silent before the rising sun?
How wonderful! We can sing the sacred songs of our
  Forefathers!
By our ancient epics we are made beautiful.

Past Book Seven: A military and political genius organises (page 156):

No man must let his weapons lose their power.
Failure to build a powerful nation
Only breeds a nation of vagabonds on the outskirts.
Bees that have been stirred from their nest
Often run amok, stinging the innocent passer-by.
For this reason the sting must be removed from them.
By our invincible power we must make peace for all peoples.
We must be alert for battle.
Those who believe in our truth shall be welcomed.
Their harvests shall be protected by our army.
Our lands shall be fertile for all peoples.
But for the moment we must build and be ready for our
  enemies.
Let none among our regiments be rushed into precipitate wars.
Let none pester the nation with calls for senseless raids.
Let no one claim Zwide’s war still haunts them,
Alleging possession by the spirit of war.
Let such reckless men know they only invite death from me.
There is no heroism in those who terrorize others.
Yet there shall be no coward in Zululand;
Whoever makes this blasphemy against you and your clan —
Bring him to justice!

As a slight digression, Kunene wrote in the introduction to this book:

I have tried to give a fatihful but free translation of the original. I have also cut out a great deal of material which would seem to be a digression from the story, a style unacceptable in English but characteristic of deep scholarship in Zulu.

Diamonds from Sierra Leone: Anti-Semitic Remix

This Grammy Award winning song was released last year by Kanye West.

It’s a remix of a 1971 hit “Diamonds Are Forever” by Shirley Bassey (vocals on the intro and hook), the theme song to a James Bond film of the same name.

“Blood diamonds” usually refers to brutality of white South Africans who used forced labor (even slavery) in Black diamond mines.

It was an asset scheme using monopoly tactics to launder money and illegally fund white supremacy — perpetuate Nazism after 1948 (Mary Gerety wrote the famous “A Diamond is Forever” ad slogan in 1947).

Millions of people in Africa tragically died due from violent conflicts related to white supremacist asset wealth manipulation in countries such as Angola, Botswana, Congo, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.

In 1998 the U.N. and European Union embargoed diamonds from Angola due to the overtly white supremacist (apartheid) South African government policy of military intervention and destabilization (Civil War).

However, Kanye here tries to flip the story, like he’s making Kristallnacht into a song, to attack Jews for the crimes of these modern-day Nazis.

The video goes even further than lyrics, using well-known propaganda imagery tactics to breed racial tension and anti-semitism.

Faceless views of whites (arguably anti-semitic portrayals using a rear-view of spectacle-wearing hunched-over “jewelers”) are contrasted with full frontal views of big-eyed poor Black children forced to work in diamond mines. Source: YouTube

Such propagandist imagery is coupled with record-scratching lines such as this:

I’m talkin’ bout Rockefelle’, my home, my chain
These ain’t conflict diamonds, is they Jacob?

A misplaced call-out to the American oilman “Rockefeller” and a Biblical reference to “Jacob” (people of Israel) clearly expose… Kanye’s intentions of spreading hate towards Jews.

Diamonds get exactly zero mentions, for example, in a very long list of dangerous Rockefeller conspiracy theories.

The apparent reason Kanye uses the name here is to pull the classic hate group tactic of blaming Jews for anything and everything.

Here’s the larger context, where you can see how again he abruptly pulls in the conspiracy signal using Rockefeller.

Good Morning, this ain’t Vietnam still
People lose hands, legs, arms for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
And how it connect to the diamonds we own
When I speak of diamonds in this song
I ain’t talkin bout the ones that be glowin’
I’m talkin bout Rockefelle’, my home, my chain
These ain’t conflict diamonds, is they Jacob? Don’t lie to me man
See, a part of me sayin’ keep shinin’
How? when I know of the blood diamonds
Though it’s thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charms
I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless
’til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here’s the conflict
It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold
Spend ya whole life try’n to get that ice
On a polar rug boy it look so nice
How could somethin’ so wrong make me feel so right, right?
‘fore I beat myself up like Ike
You could still throw ya Rockefelle’ diamond tonight, ’cause…

A Grammy for hate speech seems… somehow par for course in the country that gave rise to the rancid disinformation of Mel Gibson.

Boondocks Theme Song

by Asheru

I am the stone that the builder refused
I am the visual, the inspiration
That made Lady Sing the Blues…

I’m the spark that makes your idea bright
The same spark that lights the dark
So that you can know your left from your right…

I am the ballot in the box, the bullet in the gun
The innerglow that lets you know
To call your brother sun…

The story that just begun
The promise of what’s to come
And I’m a remain a soldier ’til the war is won

Judo Flip, chop chop chop

Craigslist founder explains wealth

Craig Newmark is an impressive guy. I’ll never forget talking with him (and another Internet giant) after a Commonwealth meeting. As people stood around him and peppered him with technology questions, he started to talk about the birds that had been nesting near his house. That kind of grounded perspective is downright refreshing. And since I happen to be a fan of craigblog, I commented on the birds he had been writing about a few days prior. You could literally see his eyes light up.

The birds matter. The color of leaves inspire. This reality is not new, but many of us forget it when we get caught up in another set of values espoused by those at the top of their heap.

We are wise to be careful and respectful observers before we try to apply our best guess about things that can and will impact hundreds of millions of users.

The natural essence of Craigslist is no coincidence, but a reflection of someone who genuinely cares about real value in real (not monetary) terms. You can call him crazy, but when he says things like this to Reuters you know he is really on to something and his influence on the world will last far beyond yet another nouveau riche story:

“Finding a good cause is incredibly hard and time-consuming,” he said, adding that he and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster agree on not cashing in.

“We both know some people who own more than a billion (dollars) and they’re not any the happier. They also need bodyguards,” he said.

Thank you Craig.