Posts Tagged ‘Congo’

* Discriminate this!

Posted on November 10th, 2008 by jill. Filed under Leadership Abuja Nigeria articles 2008.


 
            On Friday last two floats at the Bridgwater Carnival that presented an American theme were met with a stony silence from the crowd. I have been told that I misinterpreted this, but I don’t think I did. In the crowd of locals and visitors, families, children sitting on dads’ shoulders, pensioners perched on portable stepladders brought from the garden shed for the evening, no-one cheered the American floats.
 
                  It is true that they weren’t as spectacular as the others, and were a bit of a mishmash of what we have seen in previous years. Still, with the very recent election of an internationally welcomed President, whose first good deed has been to make George Bush weep (a sight for sore eyes) you would have expected a bit of a chirp.
              ‘You always over-react,’ said my nearest and dearest, ‘A typical writer!’
 
                With writers’ exaggeration therefore I insist that the country of dreams, the almost forgotten Far West, Hollywood, Free-thinking, Civil Rights, reliance on the Constitution, liberal universities and every man for himself, is dead. We used to love her, but it’s all over now.
 
                     Sometimes writers over-react; often it’s sensitivity and the ability to notice the beginning of a trend.  Our perceptions are quite subtle, and you don’t need to ram things down our throat. We also are known for the ability to put together events which seem diverse.  That’s why the election of Obama was tempered for me by the renewed bombings in Pakistan, without any apology from the US.
 
                    Watching BBC news, I carefully observed the defeated eyes of an older man look for the rest of the bodies of his family at the site of the bombing on the border with Afghanistan. What I perceived in his expression made my heart weep. Not sorrow, which would be normal run-of-the-mill America-has-bombed-my-home kind of stuff, but acceptance. We all, Europe included, understand now that if the US gets the wrong end of the stick, we too could be searching through the rubble.
 
                      Pakistan never liked Obama.
                      ‘He’s American’, they said, ‘So he can’t be any good’. Opinion had started to change after word got round that his father is from Kenya and a Muslim, but now I imagine they will be feeling disillusioned.
A lot has been made out of the fact that Obama is half-black, so it was heartening to read a cartoon of a black guy saying to a white guy,
                        ‘I hear Obama is half white. You folks must be proud.’
 
                         That Americans are so pleased with themselves for having managed to overcome the prejudice against people with brown skin colour seems almost childish.  Throughout most of the world, the different features on peoples’ faces, along with their songs, stories, languages, traditions, is a given.  We don’t worry too much about a person’s skin colour: their tribe, language, political association, religion – all these differences are plenty to be getting on with. As the Hutu once again seek out stray Tutsi in the Republic of Congo, we know that nothing more than a different name will sign your death warrant.
 
                       I may have to hide out from the CIA again if I divulge this, but I had a premonition that war was a-coming to Congo last year, when I was asked to apply for a position teaching English to the French-speaking New Congolese Army for the British Council.  Now why, I wondered, would they want the Army to learn English?
                     ‘To read the manuals,’ declared my said nearest-and dearest. Of course, English being the lingua franca today, instructions in weapons manuals need to be read before wars can be started.
 
                       Before the Iraq war, Saddam wouldn’t let the US weapons inspectors in any more, claiming that they were using the information for spying. Unlike various governments, I always believed this, and it seems Congo has had the same bad luck.
 
                      Colour of skin isn’t worth noting at all, unless it’s the white minority. Being white really does imply something: it implies (though not necessarily of course) wealth, trickiness and self-interest. This is only really a matter of chance. As it so happens  white people can appear to be well-off when they visit more southern nations. This is because of two factors:
1.       The people who manage to visit faraway places are necessarily quite well off. Poor white people, who are in the majority, can’t afford to travel, but must spend their holidays in a tent on a farm by the A39.
2.       Exchange rates are still fantastic for northerners, as southern economies struggle to develop and to be able to themselves determine the levels of their international financial status. This is unlikely to last much longer, so white people need to finish shopping for the illegal ivory I found in a shop near the Meridian Hotel, and smuggle it out of the country quick.
 
                  Until that day, and even if you yourself are Barack Obama, it is recommended to take a white person around in your car with you, in case you are stopped by the police. The tactics are as follows: as the car approaches the said road junction, the white person sticks their shining face close to the back window (remember to sit them in the Owner’s seat), ensuring they are clearly visible to the police. If it is a dark night, it may be necessary to slide the window down. The white person, who should be sober, can if necessary enquire in an Oxford-British voice,
                     ‘Is everything in order, officer?’ This should be enough to ensure safe passage. Should the white person be an American, it would be wiser not to let them speak to the Officer directly, but encourage them to mutter from the back seat,
                     ‘I’ll have to let the Embassy know about this.’
 
                      That should do the trick.  
 
 
 
976 words
©Jill Rees
11 November 2008

 

Tags: anti-American feeling, Congo, Leadership, Leadership Abuja Nigeria articles 2008, Obama, Pakistan bombing, racism, War

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Buddhist Quotes

I am entrusting you with a Gohonzon for the protection of your young child. This Gohonzon is the essence of the Lotus Sutra and the eye of all the scriptures. It is like the sun and the moon in the heavens, a great ruler on earth, the heart of a human being, the wish-granting jewel among treasures, and the pillar of a house.

When we have this mandala with us, it is a rule that all the Buddhas and gods will gather round and watch over us, protecting us like a shadow day and night, just as wqarriors guard their ruler, as parents love their children, as fish rely on water, as trees and grasses crave rain, and as birds depend on trees. You must trust in it with all your heart.

With my deep respect
Nichiren
1275 — Nichiren Daishonin

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