Friday, February 23, 2007
Clint Eastwood and the Kenyan evening news
Last night I watched For a Few Dollars More – the middle film of Sergio Leone’s trilogy of spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood. I know, I know, I’m pacifist. Clint is a bounty-killer in the old Southwest. But still, I really dug the movie. I like Clint’s style – all poncho-wearing, beard-growing, cigarillo-chomping. (Not that I would really dig such a person in real life. This isn’t that kind of Valentine’s Day blog) And I love the movie’s style – great music, good evil guy (same actor was the bad guy in A Fistful of Dollars, I think…), close-ups on Clint and he’s all squinting his eyes and wearing a good hat.
After watching the movie, I turned to the 9pm news (I am trying to patch up a patchwork quilt that I inherited from MCC – all the green patches have dissolved. Between having to iron my clothes for work, hemming curtains, and doing mending I’m starting to feel quite domesticated! Anyways, struggling to patch up a quilt is a good excuse to watch spaghetti westerns). Other than Kenyan politics (elections are at the end of this year), the main news for the last few weeks is the “crime wave” sweeping Kenya. In the past 3 months, over 60 people have been killed in violent crimes – usually robberies or car-jackings. That, of course, does not include the many “suspects” who have been gunned down by police. The US recently put a travel advisory on Kenya because of the “rising insecurity” (I guess US citizens are advised to travel at their own risk? something like that. The Kenyan government responded by saying that it wasn’t so bad, and the US must have some ulterior motive for wanting to hurt Kenya.)
So getting back to the news, the anchors spoke about a guy who is believed to have killed multiple times now. There is a bounty on him. And in the village, neighbors attacked his father and maimed his leg (punishing the father for what the son has done). Another main story was about what happened at a funeral recently – a politician was making a political speech (this happens at funerals), and someone claiming to be from a rival party flew down in a helicopter, got out, and started handing out money to the crowd. Of course, this caused something of a riot, and he started to get crushed, so he went back to the helicopter and I think he might have thrown down some money as he was leaving. The other stories on the news were all related to Kenyan politics.
Now, there are lots of reactions one could have to this whole situation. But what struck me last night were the parallels between Clint’s world and Nairobi.
- shoot to kill
- bandits are wanted Dead or Alive, but usually Clint just shot them
- some of the police in For a Few Dollars More are complicit in the banditry
- a sense that killings are rampant
Not so many people wearing ponchos or smoking cigarillos here, though.
ps – Don’t worry about me. I’ve been more careful about walking home well before dusk, not being out by myself at night, trying not to travel at night, etc. But ultimately, there’s only so much you can do to protect yourself. The main thing is to relinquish everything quickly. In that sense, it’s like being back in Portland with all those meth-heads. pps – Yes, you should still visit me. Ignore the travel advisory
p.p.s - I wrote this a week ago. A few days ago the police shot dead the "bandit" and an "accomplice," it is debatable whether he was attempting to turn himself in peacefully. Certainly, he wasn't wearing anything other than a pair of blue boxers. It was 1am in the morning.
After watching the movie, I turned to the 9pm news (I am trying to patch up a patchwork quilt that I inherited from MCC – all the green patches have dissolved. Between having to iron my clothes for work, hemming curtains, and doing mending I’m starting to feel quite domesticated! Anyways, struggling to patch up a quilt is a good excuse to watch spaghetti westerns). Other than Kenyan politics (elections are at the end of this year), the main news for the last few weeks is the “crime wave” sweeping Kenya. In the past 3 months, over 60 people have been killed in violent crimes – usually robberies or car-jackings. That, of course, does not include the many “suspects” who have been gunned down by police. The US recently put a travel advisory on Kenya because of the “rising insecurity” (I guess US citizens are advised to travel at their own risk? something like that. The Kenyan government responded by saying that it wasn’t so bad, and the US must have some ulterior motive for wanting to hurt Kenya.)
So getting back to the news, the anchors spoke about a guy who is believed to have killed multiple times now. There is a bounty on him. And in the village, neighbors attacked his father and maimed his leg (punishing the father for what the son has done). Another main story was about what happened at a funeral recently – a politician was making a political speech (this happens at funerals), and someone claiming to be from a rival party flew down in a helicopter, got out, and started handing out money to the crowd. Of course, this caused something of a riot, and he started to get crushed, so he went back to the helicopter and I think he might have thrown down some money as he was leaving. The other stories on the news were all related to Kenyan politics.
Now, there are lots of reactions one could have to this whole situation. But what struck me last night were the parallels between Clint’s world and Nairobi.
- shoot to kill
- bandits are wanted Dead or Alive, but usually Clint just shot them
- some of the police in For a Few Dollars More are complicit in the banditry
- a sense that killings are rampant
Not so many people wearing ponchos or smoking cigarillos here, though.
ps – Don’t worry about me. I’ve been more careful about walking home well before dusk, not being out by myself at night, trying not to travel at night, etc. But ultimately, there’s only so much you can do to protect yourself. The main thing is to relinquish everything quickly. In that sense, it’s like being back in Portland with all those meth-heads. pps – Yes, you should still visit me. Ignore the travel advisory
p.p.s - I wrote this a week ago. A few days ago the police shot dead the "bandit" and an "accomplice," it is debatable whether he was attempting to turn himself in peacefully. Certainly, he wasn't wearing anything other than a pair of blue boxers. It was 1am in the morning.
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