In the Grandiose Parlor…

If you haven’t, please take a trip to Dare Obasanjo’s Flickr photoshots of his father’s 70th birthday bash. Dare’s father is the Nigerian president Obasanjo, Once you see Dare, even a blind man would know where he gets his look.

Several questions ran through my mind viewing the pictures – such as the “step-brother this”, “step-sister that”, how many of “them” exist? Our president is just one famous polygamist, nothing new really.

But when I saw a picture (reproduced below) and Dare’s use of the word “servant” to describe one of the domestic workers at the presidential villa, my heart sank…

The picture’s caption (as written by Dare) reads:

“One of the servants sitting down on the bed of his one room apartment. You can see the entire apartment in this shot.”

The chap’s profession is not in question, he’s a servant, but he’s human, and deserves to be addressed with more respect in my opinion…slapping the tag “servant” just doesn’t jive with my senses at all.

Well, since Dare carries a more than fair share of his father’s gene pool (click on picture to enlarge) this shouldn’t be a surprise to those familiar with Nigeria and president Obasanjo. Should it? Didn’t the book state: “By their fruits you shall know them.”

Links : http://flickr.com/photos/carnage4life/sets/72157600155828724/ (photo) http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/ (Dare’s blog)

Hat-tip to Sokari (Black Looks) for posting on this Norwegian freakshow: A beauty contest for landmine survivors in Angola, where the contestants are then propped up on display in a fashion magazine showcasing specially designed clothes for amputees!

To say this project is despicable is an understatement, it’s an appalling means of social advocacy, and a reckless display of human and cultural insensitivity. I share the anguish and disgust of the writer (and those have commented to the post).

However, what we need to understand is that this “beauty show” was not designed to mock or be-little the circumstances of the victims, and if the victims were Norwegians it would have been appropriate for their society. The project back-fired because Morten Traavik, a Norwegian artist (no wonder!), and the the originator of the idea, failed to consider the implications of his project.

After reading the 15+ comments to Sokari’s post, I’m somewhat deflated that no one proffered alternative means of “showcasing” the plight of these victims of landmine horror. After all, it is our insensitivity as Africans (some of us), and our inability to proffer creative solutions to our socio-political issues that breath life into projects like Traavik’s. There are artists and musicians in Angola and all over Africa, but I’m yet to hear/see any concerted advocacy efforts from this sector. If we Africans can’t think and work to deal with our issues, then someone else will!

The African landscape is dotted with varieties of human-created mishaps and tragedies, until we wake-up to this reality and find ways and the strength to act individually and in unison, and address these issues, we have no business crying foul.

Yes, there are several existing outlets (blogs/websites) that have taken the “bull by the horn”, and have been addressing several social and political issues on the continent, but these are in the minority. More hands need to be on deck. It appears the days of the NIMBY (Not-In-My-Backyard) mentality over; we must be social catalysts one way or the other.

These are (some) questions we need to answer:

• How can Africans (including blogger)s creatively address our issues?
• How can we build effective coalitions?
• What skill-sets, resources, and infrastructures do we need to generate both internal and external momentum to sustain these efforts?

Where are African entertainment promoters? They must be absolutely deaf to the SXSW event ongoing in Texas, U.S.

The SXSW (South by Southwest), is a 20-year old global interactive, film and music festival and conference that has taken place every spring in Austin, Texas, according to the Wikipedia.

This event (March 9th-18th) has representatives for the UK & Ireland, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim. According to the [tag]SXSW[/tag] official website it appears there is no representation from Africa. This is strange given the fact that Texas has one of the highest concentrations of blacks and Africa immigrants in the U.S.

Click picture to view video

Democracy in Action!

If your heart desires, you may see more of the campaign train and happenings in Nigeria – Channels TV has some coverage on nuvu.tv

It appears gone are the days when the Oscar (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) used to be a “white-only-event”, prompting Chris Rock to tag the event as a “million white men march”.

But that was several years ago. Last night, two African American won two of the four major acting awards: Best Actor (Forest Whitaker: The Last King of Scotland, left photo) and Best supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson [American idol castoff]: Dreamgirls, top photo).

Since Denzel Washington and Halle Berry broke the racial barrier at the Oscars in 2002, more blacks have been successful at the Oscars- Jamie Foxx (Ray Charles) and Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) in 2004.

Is the movie academy finally shedding his monochromatic image?

“‘This Is Africa’s Turn’ – Technology Conference Convenes Creative Thinkers and Doers” goes the AllAfrica.com headline on the forthcoming TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania.

If you are an African blogger, or passionate about African affairs and don’t know what “TED” is then you need to play catch-up and see if you can be part of the 100 lucky fellowship winner, that is if its not already too late.

Nigerian blogger Emeka Okafor (in picture, blogs: Timbuktu Chronicles/Africa Unchained) is the Program Director of the conference that will see some 1000 paying participants who are “thought-leaders, in business, science and the arts, as well as in the three areas from which TED got its name – technology, entertainment and design”. In addition there will be about 100 sponsored invitees who “will be people actively involved in creating Africa’s future and who could not afford to attend on their own.”

The availability of fellowship is a sweet departure from the mentality commonly displayed by organizers of events of this magnitude. It is commendable that the organizers don’t want a “closed elitist circle” and have realized the need to “open up” the event to the general African/Afrophilic audience. The onus of this – the desire to ensure that “what happens inside the sessions is available to people who can’t be there” – will rest mainly on the Tanzanian media and other Africa-affiliated media outlets – including blogs.

Visit TED.com to access the blog and other media content. I have come to love the video clips of past TED presenters. Awesome!

Sokari of Black looks writes about the poor linkage among African blogs and their poor ranking on most blog search engines, particularly Technorati. She even contemplated bloggers doing a Technorati tag bomb.

I do share Sokari’s concern, and those that pay attention to trends on the blogosphere and in the Web 2.0 world in general will understand why there is reason to be concerned. While a tag bomb is not the answer, and I do not subscribe to issuing a clarion call to Africans to register their blogs on Technorati either.

However, two things need to be done:

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