tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-204470592024-03-13T22:07:18.309+03:00well, here i am in kenya.debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-62706185190711479672008-11-12T16:26:00.000+03:002008-11-12T16:29:26.125+03:00The Dangers of the Obama Presidency – II<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>I stayed up to watch the first Obama press conference (shown on Al Jazeera, and with lots of commentary before and after). And we can say, the man has style. Big time style. One of the Al Jazeera commentators (a Brit) just kept going on about how Presidential he had seemed, and such a great demeanor, and what a relief it was to not be cringing and embarrassed, as he used to be when Bush gave his very few press conferences.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p>I’m a bit concerned that he came into the press conference with a list of the reporters that he was going to call on (no, that did not include Al Jazeera). I knew that his candidacy was marked by a very close control over the media portrayal of him. I was hoping that would not continue….</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p>And what’s up with these super close ties to the Israeli state? <span style=""> </span>And he’s been enthusiastic about biofuels from ethanol (read: let’s support corn farmers without paying attention to actual carbon impact of this fuel). </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Okay, I admit, I am giddy at the prospect of getting to be critical about the Obama administration. This is so much better than being hopelessly depressed over the Bush administration!</span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-81962604734247115042008-11-12T15:57:00.000+03:002008-11-12T16:13:33.533+03:00The Dangers of the Obama Presidency - I<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-US">I mocked some Canadians. I believe I said something like:<span style=""> </span><o:p> </o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">HA! We have Obama and you have ….HARPER! <span style=""> </span>HA!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This was unkind. The Canadians in question were from <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Quebec</st1:place></st1:State>, and therefore did not really care. Still, though, that does not really justify it. In my defense, I was drunk on the giddy feeling of no longer feeling morally and culturally inferior to my northern neighbors.<o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">(In retrospect, my ‘northern neighbors’ now are <st1:country-region st="on">Ethiopia</st1:country-region>, and it’s kind of funny, because I totally feel like <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region> is totally culturally superior to any of my backgrounds. On the other hand, <st1:country-region st="on">Ethiopia</st1:country-region> doesn’t exactly hold a moral card over anyone right now – they are like the <st1:placename st="on">Guantanamo</st1:PlaceName> <st1:placetype st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place>, holding political prisoners from all over in extremely obscure and likely bad conditions.)</span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-83444923454326326742008-11-05T19:26:00.001+03:002008-11-05T19:32:50.238+03:00fireworks!dude, we hardly ever get fireworks in Nairobi! well, with the exception of Diwali, and that's only in certain parts of town. I'm still at work on a conference call, but either there was just a massive gun battle with cannons or fireworks are going off!!!!<br /><br />WOOOOH!!!!debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-53711465640222570102008-11-05T18:37:00.000+03:002008-11-05T18:39:25.136+03:00Kenya is ecstatic<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Kenya</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> is ecstatic. Completely. Dancing on the streets, dancing pretty much everywhere. I have done several victory laps through my office, flying my Obama 2008 kanga. I have hugged everyone in the office, and burst into tears several times during the day.<o:p> </o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Yes, it is true, President Kibaki has named November 6 a national holiday. People are So Proud. It is the only thing on the news, everyone on the street talking about. On my walk to work, I had so many neighbors and people greet me with congratulations and shared expressions of joy. It is a great feeling. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">It’s true I missed out on being bombarded by the full Campaign Effect – no commercials, infomercials, or signs in yards. But I certainly did not miss out on the Obama excitement. Someone, I don’t know who, paid for Obama billboards around Nairobi, including pictoral shots on the new Jumbo-tron type electronic billboard that is on the Hallie Sellassie /Uhuru Highway roundabout. The news has covered the elections quite thoroughly (perhaps too thoroughly - see earlier post). In <st1:place st="on">Western Kenya</st1:place>, church leaders held an ecumenical prayer service, in which they prayed for the hearts of Republicans to be changed. People in rural <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> know about the electoral voting system in the States. There are Swahili and Jaluo songs about Obama, there are Obama shirts and buttons and cloth, there are a million Obama matatus (mini-buses).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So today is the culmination of a whole lot of momentum and excitement. I would love to be back in the States, but I can count myself lucky to be here in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-10523220076635305502008-10-31T11:09:00.002+03:002008-10-31T11:17:38.426+03:00I AM excited about Obama...but....Last night on the news, they spent at least 20 minutes on Obama stories. The entire first 14 minutes of the newscast were on Obama, and then there was a follow up story on his relatives in Kenya. This despite the fact that there is some serious news developing these days....<br /><br />- The Waki Commission, led by a former judge to explore the post-election violence, produced a report that people need to be held to account for what they did, and suggested names of persons responsible for organizing major violence (those names are in a sealed envelope and have not yet been revealed). The report also held that if those people were not brought to court in Kenya, they should be indicted by the International Criminal Court. Yesterday a majority of MPs and the major ODM party came out against the Waki Commission report, ostensibly because there is no need to 'reopen wounds that are just starting to heal', and also because Kenya must 'hold on to its sovereignty' and not give it up to the ICC. But everyone knows,<span style="font-style: italic;"> everyone knows </span>that it is because these same politicians would be shown to have instigated and paid for much of the violence.<br />- In other news, the Kenyan police stopped a bus with a guy who was carrying 600 bomb detonators to a part of north eastern Kenya that is Somaliland, where there has been a lot of violence lately, including human rights violations by police against civilians.<br />- Oh, and the DRC is descending into chaos extremely rapidly. Thousands and thousands of people are displaced in eastern Congo.<br /><br />So as much as I am Extremely Pro-Obama, I'm going to question the choice of the news editors last night.debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-10229910131728348032008-10-22T17:07:00.000+03:002008-10-22T17:08:41.341+03:00i am sooooo embarrassed that I first wrote "Carol Mosley Braun" instead of "Cynthia McKinney." So SO embarrassed. Sorry about that.debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-10661150913122228812008-10-21T13:11:00.002+03:002008-10-22T17:07:35.008+03:00What I have to say about the US Election<i style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">To my brother who wants to vote for Cynthia McKinney (who totally rocks the house and is an amazing, amazing person and running with the Greens)<o:p></o:p></span></i> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US">I know what the polls say, but I don’t trust the polls. Don’t trust ‘em in <st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region>; don’t trust ‘em in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I know that Obama isn’t everything we would want him to be, but he does advocate for corporate regulation, a government that ensures essential services, and a less powerful executive and more independent judiciary and legislative. I remember 8 years ago I felt like there probably wasn’t that much of a difference between Bush and Gore, and WOW I was WRONG.<br /><o:p></o:p></span><br /><i style=""><span lang="EN-US">To folks who are still ‘on the fence’<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:12;" lang="EN-US" >I really think you are missing the point, here. Obama and McCain have really different views of what government is for, how a country should be a country, and the goals of the Presidency. But in any case, Colin Powell has endorsed Obama, so it seems to me that that ought to convince you fence sitters. </span>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-76146714133937491482008-10-16T13:59:00.002+03:002008-10-16T14:01:38.422+03:00Happy World Food Day!also being referred to as "World Foodless Day." <br /><br />Here is a press release from Via Campesina on World Food Day:<br /><p><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"></span></b><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><b><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">We can end the food crisis!</span></b><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">(<st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maputo</st1:place></st1:City>, October 15, 2008) We can only end the food crisis through the principles of food sovereignty and agroecology. This is the focus of the Vía Campesina in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maputo</st1:place></st1:City>, as its 5<sup>th</sup> Congress gets underway with a Youth Assembly for rural youth from all over the world. </span><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">There are many <st1>young people</st1> who want to start out in agriculture using agroecological farming methods, based on autonomous principles of sustainable production and local marketing of produce. Current policies, however, make this difficult, and favour industrial production methods.</span></i><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">Today, the 16th of October, 2008, the FAO World Food Day, the <st1>Via Campesina offers</st1> a message of hope in the face of the world food crisis. </span><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">The crisis is a direct result of the industrial and export-based agricultural model, at the expense of millions of rural workers and the population as a whole, in every region of the world. But the crisis can be overcome if we abandon this model, which drives out rural workers, destroys biodiversity and the environment, and results in hunger and poverty in the world. The food crisis is the most dramatic link in the chain of crises generated by the neo-liberal economic system – the climate crisis, the energy crisis, the financial crisis, the biodiversity crisis, etc.. It is time for a change of direction, starting with agriculture itself.</span><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">The alternative is food sovereignty, which allows peoples to develop their own agricultural and food policies, which favour local and sustainable rural production, and equitable distribution of healthy food to support their own people. </span><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">The Vía Campesina reiterates this message in the midst of discussions taking place during its 5th Conference in <st1:city st="on">Maputo</st1:City> (<st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mozambique</st1:place></st1:country-region>)<wbr>, attended by over 600 representatives of small farmer and rural worker organizationss from all over the world. </span><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">60% of all food consumed in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mozambique</st1:place></st1:country-region> is imported, and the scourge of hunger and malnutrition is everyhere in this country. <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Mozambique</st1:place></st1:country-region>, like every country in the world, needs food sovereignty and support for its sustainable peasant production sector - using environmentally-<wbr>friendly means – to feed its own population and put an end to hunger. </span><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;">Today on World Food Day, the Via Campeina Youth Assembly stresses the urgent need of new generations of farmers to have to access to farm land and means of production. It has become clear that many <st1>young people</st1> want to farm, using the principles of agroecology, yet are still unable to do so. The <st1>Via Campesina urges</st1> governments to improve access to land, credit and support for these <st1>young people</st1>, because the future of agriculture and food production depends on them. In other words, the food crisis cannot be solved if <st1>young people</st1> are not given a wide-ranging role in agriculture based on food sovereignty and agroecological models. </span><o></o><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;" lang="EN-US">For more information<st1>: </st1></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; color: black;" lang="EN-US">Isabelle Delforge (e-mail: </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; color: blue;" lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:idelforge@viacampesina.org" title="mailto:idelforge@viacampesina.org"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; text-decoration: none;"><span title="mailto:idelforge@viacampesina.org">idelforge@viacampes<wbr title="mailto:idelforge@viacampesina.org">ina.org</span></span></a></span><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";" lang="EN-US">, +258 829628439) <b><a href="http://www.viacampesina.org/" title="http://www.viacampesina.org">www.viacampesina.<wbr title="http://www.viacampesina.org">org</a></b></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-4723681708681334122008-09-09T13:41:00.002+03:002008-09-09T13:46:09.980+03:00Fever + Moby Dick = Questionable Results<span lang="EN-US">Since coming to <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place>, I get horribly sick about once a year. Not at all dangerously sick, not at all seriously sick, just dramatically sick. The kind where I inevitably end up collapsed on the kitchen floor, sweating and shaking and wondering how I’ll ever get back to my bed. I don’t know if it is that <st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region> lends itself to picking up more extreme bugs, or if I’m just generally more dramatic in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I think it’s a bit of both. </span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Most of the time I was sick I was:<span style=""> </span>sleeping; lying in bed reading <i style="">Moby Dick</i>; lying in bed thinking of how to win a million dollars. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p>First I should say, <a href="http://booksinkenya.blogspot.com"><i style="">Moby Dick </i>is awesome</a>. But a strange side effect of reading it over several feverish days plus one daytime television session of Survivor while eating toast was this monomaniacal fixation on winning a million dollars. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>Can’t say I’ve spent very much of my life thinking of what I could do with lots of money, but once I started thinking about it (and ‘thinking’ is a strong term for the loose ranging loops of fancy), it was hard to stop. Lots of good causes out there. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>But how, you might ask, will you win a million dollars? If I remember correctly, I had a 3 part plan: </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1) Win Survivor<br />2) Win an Olympic gold medal.<br />3) Win a Nobel Prize. Any of ‘em.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Yeah.<o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">#3 – Win a Nobel Prize – I think this was more of an acknowledgment that it comes with a million dollars. Even in my deepest delirium, I had no plan for how to get one.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">#2 – Win the Olympics – Yeah. You know, I’m pretty sure a gold medal does NOT come with a million dollars. But for some reason, I thought it would. So I thought about what sport I could ‘realistically’ master in the next 4 years and compete at the age of 33, and I came up with….the parallel bars.<br />Yep. I think primarily because the announcers would have so many great talking points on me – wow, imagine, such mastery in just a few years! and at her age! and she doesn’t even have very good depth perception! <br /><br /><span style=""></span>#1 – But it didn’t even matter that numbers 2 and 3 were pretty long shots, because I was <i style="">convinced </i>that I had the winning strategy for <i style="">Survivor. </i>So the episode of Survivor I saw while eating toast was the last of some season (12? 22? 44?), and it was the usual where you had everyone on the jury complaining about how the final 2 weren’t ‘worthy’ and were ‘weak’ and had just ‘ridden coattails’ to get to the end. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">“Oh shut up,” I said in my head. I do a lot of talking out loud in my head when I’m sick. “If you hadn’t bloody well knocked out everyone who seemed to be a threat, this wouldn’t have happened. This show is so predictable.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Later as I was lying in bed, not sleeping, not reading, just lying there as I do when I’m sick, I came up with my grand strategy. Looking back, it’s a bit thin. At the time, it seemed as deep as was necessary. My plan was to go on the show and tell my fellow contestants: look people, our strategy should be to Make Good Television. Somehow, this appeal to their deeper Televised instincts would inspire everyone to greater heights, and instead of just voting out the obvious, we’d vote out the people who weren’t contributing to the overall structural drama. And my contribution would be from constantly doing meta-commentary on the role of Survivor in American cultural life and how we reflected and impacted American life. Which, in retrospect, even if the rest of my strategy succeeded, would likely not keep me on any island for very long. </span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-24588674356428957432008-07-17T20:23:00.002+03:002008-07-17T20:25:55.743+03:00since I last blogged….politics keep happening<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/SH-AXSmMoxI/AAAAAAAAABo/ce6NyKACsEc/s1600-h/beaker.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224035230390461202" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/SH-AXSmMoxI/AAAAAAAAABo/ce6NyKACsEc/s320/beaker.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div>There’s been an entire political scandal since I lost wrote. I mean, I knew it had been a while, but this really puts it in perspective!<br /><br />So there is a fancy hotel in town, The Grand Regency. It’s fancy. It was built with money that was siphoned from the government in a previous Scandal (I think it was the Goldenberg scandal….might have been the Anglo-Leasing one, though). Anyways, it had to do with government contracts going out for projects that never existed, and payments for constructing a building with 27 floors but it is built with 21 floors (that’s the Times Tower downtown), and for doing all kinds of things that never happen or happened only part-way, etc. Billions of shillings. So the Grand Regency was built with that money by Pattni, a guy who was right in the midst of that former Scandal, and was supposedly in jail for a number of years over it (but he was pretty much out and about) and then was released and said he’d been Saved and founded a church franchise that is raking in billions of shillings. Anyways, because Grand Regency was built with dirty money, the government of Kenya took it into receivership.<br /><br />A month or so ago, it was revealed that the Grand Regency had been sold to the Libyan government. The scandalous parts are:<br />- <strong>how much was it actually sold for?</strong> So first they said 2.8 billion shillings. But then it was maybe actually just 1.9 billion. Or, no, wait, it was 2.8. No, it was definitely 1.9. Or maybe it was sold for 2.8 billion and the government is actually going to receive 1.9 because the rest is already pocketed. It still isn’t clear to me.<br />- <strong>does that represent a fair price?</strong> Some people say it was valued at 8 billion. Some people say an entire chain of fancy fancy hotels was sold for 1.3 billion. A lot of people talked endlessly about this.<br />- <strong>who was it sold to?</strong> First they said the Libyan government. Then it was just the Qadhafi family. And then it supposedly was just 3 random Libyan guys with mustaches who looked like they had been pulled from their kiosks in Kisumu and told to stand in front of the TV cameras. And then finally the Libyan embassy confirmed that it was, indeed, the Libyan government.<br />- <strong>did the sale go through the proper channels?</strong> No. It was sold without getting the express permission of Parliament.<br /><br />Amos Kimunya, the Minister of Finance, has been forced to step down over the scandal. He was the Minister of Finance for 5 years total, and he had a reputation of being clean and smart. That was part of what seemed so strange about the whole Scandal – it was kind of stupid. But on the other hand, looking back, there were quite a lot of Scandals under his watch, so maybe he wasn’t so squeaky clean.<br /><br />And that’s my understanding of the Latest Scandal. A new Minister of Finance has been named, the Libyan government owns a fancy hotel in Nairobi, and everyone else in the halls of power are breathing a collective sigh of relief that they didn’t get caught this time.</div><div> </div><div>(Beaker is distressed that there has been Another Big Scandal)</div>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-66736323515754374732008-07-17T20:06:00.001+03:002008-07-17T20:14:21.483+03:00since I last blogged…Africa/Europe trade negotiations grind onwards<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/SH99p2NI6ZI/AAAAAAAAABY/UEXJ7U_xjn0/s1600-h/sm+march3.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224032250651797906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/SH99p2NI6ZI/AAAAAAAAABY/UEXJ7U_xjn0/s320/sm+march3.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div>The other night I dreamt that I was sitting at my parents’ kitchen table with my family, telling them what I’d been doing while I was in Kenya. At the end, they said: So basically, you didn’t achieve anything. I woke up very sad. Also, in my dream I had pierced ears, which was really confusing for me because I couldn’t remember when that had happened.<br /><br />Well, it’s true, those pesky Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) negotiations keep inching closer towards finalizing some Truly Bad Deals for Africa. There was a lot of pressure at the end of last year, with the European Commission threatening to suspend trade preferences for African exports if they didn’t sign something before 2008. So most of the African countries that aren’t Least Developed Countries ended up initialing “Interim” or “Framework” EPAs – agreements that just cover trade in goods.<br /><br />This year, the EC is focused on getting those Interim EPAs actually signed, and even more so, getting EVERYONE to sign on to “Comprehensive” EPAs, which include service liberalisation and restrictions on investment regulation and intellectual property rights regimes and all kinds of other nasty stuff that doesn’t belong in a Free Trade Agreement anyways. Oh, and promises of Development Aid from the European Union.<br /><br />But there is good news.<br />~ None of the Interim EPAs have actually been signed yet. An initialed treaty is not a signed treaty, so there is still space to either change the initialed text or to pull out altogether.<br />~ The delay in the negotiations means that African countries could sign up for a preferential trade scheme (GSP+) starting at the beginning of 2009, and just skip out on an EPA altogether without losing most of their European export markets.<br />~ More and more people and institutions are pointing out how Truly Bad the draft EPAs are. In the past few weeks, a French parliamentarian published an extremely critical and well researched document looking at the development impacts of EPAs & Sarkozy gave it a pretty positive response; Joseph Stiglitz told the world that EPAs are a bad idea; a massive on-line petition against the Caribbean community’s EPA is growing; Angola, Namibia and South Africa are standing up against the EC’s pressure tactics….<br /><br />So I’ve still got hope.</div><div> </div><div>(photo from a march in Lisbon in December at the Europe/Africa Summit. There was a klezmer band! How great is THAT?)</div></div>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-54269228572378310612008-07-17T19:18:00.002+03:002008-07-17T20:23:16.872+03:00since I last blogged…I got older<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/SH9_8NT18DI/AAAAAAAAABg/to5ifxWNSoU/s1600-h/fozzie_bear.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224034765114830898" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/SH9_8NT18DI/AAAAAAAAABg/to5ifxWNSoU/s320/fozzie_bear.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I turned 29. So I’m trying to think of a good slogan for my year. I really operate well with defined goals, and I think I’ve had pretty good success with my New-Years-slogans (that one year I really did eat a lot more beets), so I thought maybe it would give me more direction to do that with my Birthday-year.<br /><br />My overall goal for the year: Be Less Risk-Averse.<br /><br />I thought about it on my walk to work today. So far, I have:<br /><br /><strong>29: What’s the worst that can happen?</strong> I think this is catchy, and has a good tone. But on the other hand, the question sort of begs for answers, and I can think of far too many very horrifying things that I don’t want to have happen this year. The point is, I shouldn’t be focusing on the small likelihood of those horrifying things, I should be focusing on the larger likelihood that when I take risks it leads to good things (and mildly disappointing but not so horrifying and probably ultimately character building things). (Oh, I’m not talking about Wild Risks – I’m thinking more like Talk to More People, and Take More Emotional Risks, and Apply to Interesting Jobs Even if You Don’t Think You’ll Be Hired. Things like that.)<br /><br /><strong>29: Because You Need To Grow A Backbone At Some Point</strong> That’s probably too negative, and I’ll just end up with a bad feeling inside instead of directed and inspired.<br /><strong><br />Soon You Will Be 30…Shouldn’t You Have Written A Novel By Now?</strong> Hmm. I think I was in a ‘negative space’ on my walk to work today. It has to do with my head being Way Too Full of the most recent WTO negotiating texts. Ugh.<br /><br /><strong>MUPPETS!</strong> I just thought of that one. I’m kind of tired right now, but I have to say, it’s looking pretty good! I mean, Muppets. I’m feeling better just thinking about them. Jim Henson died young from overworking (well, from pneumonia. But he wouldn’t have died of pneumonia if he had stopped working and rested). So within the slogan there are all these layers, like:<br />- Working hard is good, because you can achieve great things (like the Muppets); but don’t work so hard you kill yourself<br />- I bet Jim Henson could have prevented the movie industry from being so stupid about CGI effects. Or at least would have shown them another way to be. Let’s go to more puppet shows this year.<br />- You know, I really like how you can tell what Muppets are thinking because they are such physical beings. So maybe it’s okay that everyone in a meeting room knows exactly what I’m thinking just by looking at me.<br />- I’m really <em>feeling</em> Pigs in Space right now. I wonder what that means.<br />- Did you know that for The Dark Crystal they totally created a world and its ecosystems and inhabitants, and then they thought up a plot? True, it’s not the best plot, but it is a truly inspired world – all the pieces of the ecological and social and political communities really fit together. That’s something inspirational.<br />- Muppets take risks.<br /><br />Well, <strong>MUPPETS! </strong>is definitely winning by my count. But before I settle on it, any suggestions?</div>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-25670594794335027282008-04-25T15:08:00.002+03:002008-04-25T15:10:22.366+03:00BORN in the USA<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Well, I do appreciate being an American. I don’t have as many American friends in <st1:city st="on">Nairobi</st1:City> any more – people have moved on, <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nairobi</st1:place></st1:City> being a transient city – and pretty much the only Americans I am around are when I occasionally see other MCCers, which doesn’t happen terribly often. But there were Americans in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Accra</st1:City></st1:place> for UNCTAD and for the Civil Society Forum, and I found that I Really Enjoyed Being Around Them. I didn’t actually spend much time with Americans, but I really got into embracing my American Identity. I said “Dude!” a lot more than I usually do; I actually said “Bless You” when a colleague sneezed (NOT something I’ve done in a long time); I was really feeling happy to be an American on the cusp of a regime change (Obama! Obama! <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:place></st1:State>? How could you let me down?).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Maybe also it was that I had the added ‘glamour’ of being around a bunch of white people (which was weird in and of itself) and being the One Who Lives in “<st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place>”. Yes, I let myself fall into the trap of just accepting the looks that some folks who work for NGOs in Europe or North America give when I say I live in Nairobi….it’s this look that involves admiration and curiosity and maybe envy…as opposed to nipping that in the bud. After all, there is <i style="">nothing </i>intrinsically noble about living in <st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region> as an ex-pat working for an NGO; I think it’s rather hard to live in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nairobi</st1:place></st1:City> as an ex-pat and not have one’s life be rather ignoble. But no, instead of trying to somehow express that and wipe that look off anyone’s face, I just accepted it. <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>How exactly does one work off penance for that? </span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-30495856295082689512008-04-15T09:23:00.001+03:002008-04-15T09:45:14.128+03:00politics<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span><i style=""><span style="">Written on Saturday (April 12):<span style=""> </span>Kibaki and Raila had stopped talks and were both grandstanding, threatening to drop out of the “Grand Coalition” government <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Everyone is annoyed and frustrated. I think I can say that with a high degree of confidence, unfortunately.<span style=""> </span>Lots of folk are frustrated with the Politicians – the ‘hardliners’ on both side who are refusing to take what could have been at least a short-term solution and make it work.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">I think everyone recognized that the February “coalition government” solution was a short-term solution. It wasn’t going to work the way that it does in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> or other places where coalitions rule together. But still, I didn’t think it was going to be <i style="">this short</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">In the meantime, there are still THOUSANDS of people in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps who are convinced that they cannot go back to their homes, their farms, their jobs, their schools, or their lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="">Written on Sunday (April 13): Kibaki and Raila announce that they have come to an agreement, and they name a 40 member cabinet. That’s right – 40 ministries, with 40 ministers. Also, a Prime Minister (Raila).<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Well, it’s amazing how grateful one can be for a bad deal, when the day before it seemed like there would be no deal at all. I guess it’s a good tactic – make everyone worry that the leaders are going to whip their respective populaces into a frenzy again….and then agree to something everyone knows is a huge waste of money but which is a lot better than civil war. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Twenty four new ministries have been pulled out of…anatomically correct but impolite places to mention here. I mean, some of them are potentially good ideas...sure, northeast Kenya needs more attention, but I have serious doubts that the new Ministry for NorthEast Kenya will do much to help that area. I guess we’ll see.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="">Written on Monday (April 14): Mungiki members block many of the major roads in and around <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nairobi</st1:place></st1:City>, burning cars and protesting the death of the jailed Mungiki leader’s wife and her driver. Police shoot 12 suspected Mungiki; others are killed in the cross-fire.</span></i><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Okay. First of all, <i style="">man</i>, it is <i style="">discouraging</i> to wake up the day after the government has named a 40 member cabinet with the argument that it has to be that big in order to appease all of the parts of Kenya, to wake up from that to an SMS from the US Embassy that ‘gangs of youth are clashing with police’ and blocking roads in Nairobi. Sigh. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">So the Mungiki. They are a “sect” – because they were originally focused around reviving Kikuyu religious beliefs and practices. As a way to reclaim heritage, as a way to shake off the cloak of colonial repression…pretty much good stuff, as far as my post-colonial white sensibilities are concerned. Fast forward to today, and the Mungiki is a Gang. <span style=""> </span>A Gang that controls a lot of the matatu routes, that provides most of the basic services of the Kikuyu slums, that holds initiation ceremonies and that depends a lot less on their traditional spiritual beliefs than it does on the fear of what will happen to you and your family if you cross them. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The Mungiki mobilized big time during the elections, and in the post-election mayhem they did a lot more ‘recruiting’ – in some areas, young Kikuyu men who refused to join were killed. All of the militia were being pumped with money from politicians and big men during this time also. Now we are back to a time of ‘peace’ in which we have a Grand Coalition, but we’ve also got Grand Militia. This is going to be a problem for a while...<o:p></o:p></span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-20489735977004623042008-04-03T15:03:00.000+03:002008-04-03T15:18:35.477+03:00In Memory of Stephen Otieng<span lang="EN-US">Stephen was a part of the African civil society movement striving for economic justice. He worked for SEATINI Uganda, working on EPAs, on the connection between the environment and human rights, on trade policies…He was smart and funny, and now he is dead. </span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">He was found in his locked apartment on Tuesday, dead from multiple stab wounds. His old laptop was missing, and his phone. We don’t know what happened. The police are looking into it, but so far this seems to primarily involve asking the family and work colleagues for payments.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I was in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kampala</st1:place></st1:City> when they found Stephen. SEATINI had planned with us a regional meeting for groups involved in the Stop EPA movement, to strategize for the rest of 2008. We had to go ahead with the meeting – there were 50 participants already there from 10 countries in the region. Because we took up a lot of SEATINI’s responsibilities for the meeting, I didn’t attend the funeral. So in my mind, Stephen is still Whole.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span>We miss Stephen. We already miss his contributions to the Stop EPAs campaign, and I know that within <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Uganda</st1:place></st1:country-region> his contributions are being sorely missed among the activist and research communities. <span style=""> </span>I am angry – angry at the killers and primarily at the police. On the whole, though, I and others are very deeply sad to lose Stephen in such a fashion. </span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-53623110549488087842008-04-03T14:27:00.003+03:002008-04-03T15:03:33.569+03:00Food, continued<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/R_TBIuqfHEI/AAAAAAAAABI/xTqwjTM3hLw/s1600-h/Ug+%236+bananas+in+threes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_7hw7TlYwyX4/R_TBIuqfHEI/AAAAAAAAABI/xTqwjTM3hLw/s200/Ug+%236+bananas+in+threes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184981426719628354" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" >More good food. <o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place style="font-weight: bold;" st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;" lang="EN-US">Kampala</span></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Verdana;" lang="EN-US">, <st1:country-region st="on">Uganda</st1:country-region></span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" >- Starches – I LOVE <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Kampala</st1:city></st1:place>. It’s the perfect sized city (about the side of <st1:city st="on">Pittsburgh</st1:city> or <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Portland</st1:place></st1:city>). Probably if I lived in <st1:country-region st="on">Uganda</st1:country-region> the sheer <i style="">politeness </i>of everyone would drive me totally crazy, but it is such a welcome relief from <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nairobi</st1:place></st1:city>. It’s slower and quieter, a bit dustier and less electricity, but they make up for it with beautiful green hills and a wider variety of starches than in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place>. There is a lot of matoke – a variety of bananas that are boiled or fried, often the boiled version is mashed. Mmm. And then there is a lot more ‘brown’ ugali than you’ll find in most parts of <st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region> (other than western <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>). This is ugali made from other grains, usually finger millet. More protein, more vitamins, more tasty.<o:p></o:p><br />- Groundnut sauce – Somehow they make it fluffy kind of. And usually the peanuts are pounded with the red skins still on them, so that makes the sauce sort of pink. So good with matoke.<o:p></o:p><br />- Bananas – I hate bananas in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I love bananas in <st1:place st="on">East Africa</st1:place>. They might be different, or I might just have a different attitude. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place style="font-weight: bold;" st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;" lang="EN-US">Addis Ababa</span></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Verdana;" lang="EN-US">, <st1:country-region st="on">Ethiopia</st1:country-region></span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" >- All of the food (except the raw meat) – so….good…..<br />- Tejj – Honey wine. Drinking it makes you feel like a greek god (well, yes, it is potent. But I’ve never drunk very much, so I can’t say whether or not one would eventually feel that one has power to intervene in the lives of mortals. It’s more the fact that it is honey wine, and tasty honey wine, that makes me feel that way)<br />- Coffee – I reckon Ethiopians have drunk coffee longer than anyone else in the world, seeing as it originated in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Up country they have coffee ceremonies three times a day. These are a people who take coffee seriously, and well they should. <o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place style="font-weight: bold;" st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;" lang="EN-US">Accra</span></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Verdana;" lang="EN-US">, <st1:country-region st="on">Ghana</st1:country-region></span></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" lang="EN-US" >You know how West Africans tend to be really tall and big? It might be because they have the best food in <st1:place st="on">Africa</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="font-size:100%;">- Red Red – Fried plantain, bean and tomato sauce, fish. The whole thing as spicy as you can take it. <o:p></o:p><br />- Jollof Rice – Chicken, rice, vegetables, the whole thing as spicy as you can take it.<o:p></o:p><br />- Shiroo – the chili sauce that makes everything so very good.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-49538161999663470532008-04-03T12:35:00.001+03:002008-04-03T12:59:47.335+03:00FOOD - Kenya<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">(sorry - had computer problems where i couldn't cut and paste, so couldn't blog for a while..)<st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"></st1:country-region></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">I do like food. And, happily, I have eaten a LOT of good food in the past 2+ years as an MCCer.<o:p><br /></o:p></span><br /><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">Nairobi</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">- Passionfruit Avocado juice – As previously mentioned, this is a divine combination. Okay, yes, for the benefit of my gourmet relatives (hi Karen!) it’s probably a puree from the avocado. But whatever you call it, it is dang tasty. Passionfruit – known as ‘passion’ in these parts - is a tangy fruit, and it balances nicely with the smooth avocado. If you ever find yourself in the Jomo Kenyatta airport,<span style=""> </span>go all the way down past Gate 14 and you’ll find a Java House that usually has it. Enjoy!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">- Indian Food – In plenty, relatively cheap, and extremely tasty. <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> has a large population of “Indians” / “Asians”. I insist on referring to them as Kenyan Indians – I mean, a lot of them are 3<sup>rd</sup> or 4<sup>th</sup> generation Kenyans. Well, that’s a topic for another blog. For now, let’s talk about Diamond Plaza - an open-air square surrounded by dozens of Indian restaurants that are cheap and tasty, and fun because everyone in Nairobi comes to Diamond Plaza – the Kenyans, the Kenyan Indians, the wazungu, the Somalis, the Ethiopians… is a good time. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">- Irio / Mokimo – in my opinion, the best of the limited starch options in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Potatoes, mashed up with beans and something green (up country it would be pumpkin leaves, in town it is usually peas) and add maize. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p><br />North Rift Valley<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">- Ugali - I’m not a huge fan of ugali, the basic starch of <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place>. It’s maize flour, boiled with water and cooked and stirred until it is very very thick. You eat with your right hand – pinch off a bunch, squish in your palm, eat. Very filling, but not very much protein or anything else. The best ugali I’ve ever had – maybe one of the few times I can say that I’ve really enjoyed ugali – was at Naomi’s place. She is one of the farmers in the leadership of the Uasin Gishu SmallScale Farmer’s Group, and she lives on a farm that is about 1 ½ ha if I remember correctly. That is not big. She had a separate cooking hut, with a stove built where the fire was up off the ground, and underneath she would incubate eggs or, in this case, let the ugali sit, so that it kind of baked in the pot. Man, that was some really good ugali – all crusty on the outside. Mmm.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">- Ghee – Well, most people don’t have refrigerators once you leave Nairobi (and for that matter, lots don’t have them in Nairobi), which explains in part the rarity of butter and the commonality of Blue Band, a palm oil margarine. So dairy farmers tend not to make butter, but one time when I was staying at Hellen’s we made ghee. It involves making butter and then cooking it over a fire, stirring very very briskly the whole time until it separate into clear oil (ghee) and little pellets kind of that can also be used for cooking. Tasty, and doesn’t need to be refrigerated.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;" lang="EN-US">- Honey – Kenyan bees are still alive, and they are producing great honey.<o:p></o:p></span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-58213580098985908662008-03-11T12:13:00.002+03:002008-03-11T12:17:39.804+03:00Living in Nairobi<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">For a long time after coming to <st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region>, when people asked me “How do you like living in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Nairobi</st1:City></st1:place>?”, I said things like: ….oh, well, you know, it’s very different from where I’ve ever lived before.<span style=""> </span>Or: oh, well, <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nairobi</st1:place></st1:City>, you know, it’s not a very warm and welcoming city. Or: oh, well, it’s good, it’s good. I mean, it’s not an easy city to live in. You know. But, yeah, it’s fine. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Sometime in the last few months, I’m not even sure when, I started answering with: Oh, man! I love <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nairobi</st1:place></st1:City>! <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Nairobi</st1:City></st1:place> is great!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Some of things I think have changed my mind: </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">- taking matatus isn’t a big stress or expenditure of energy any more<br />- passionfruit-avocado juice<br />- managing to make some friends<br />-<span style=""> </span>at a bus rest stop in Nakuru at 1am in the morning during a trip up country by night bus, I ran into a group of hip hop musicians I know from working on a Stop EPAs concert<br />- when I came back from <st1:city st="on">Kampala</st1:City> and <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Lusaka</st1:City></st1:place>, I really thought everyone would be very cynical about the power-sharing deal between Kibaki and Raila. Instead, everyone is determined to be hopeful, to be joyful about this opportunity for peace in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<br />- yes, it takes a lot longer to navigate the sidewalks and streets of downtown since the hawkers took over in November. But if you aren’t in a huge hurry, it’s kind of nice to have anything you could possibly want there on the sidewalk and spilling into the streets – oranges and sweet potatoes, stuffed animals, bedding, books, plastic containers, underwear, jeans, plates, handkerchiefs, sweets, plastic bags, charcoal, bibles... They were supposed to be relocated to a new ‘market’ area 2 weeks ago, but they ain’t moving.<br />- the National Reference and Lending Library – I don’t know if I would have been able to make the move from Kahawa to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Nairobi</st1:place></st1:City> without the intervention of a public library in my life<br />- radio stations that play Kenyan hip hop<br /></span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-30677231596249361042008-02-29T14:54:00.000+03:002008-02-29T14:56:02.691+03:00Kenya strikes a deal<span lang="EN-US">I’ve been at meetings on the outskirts of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kampala</st1:place></st1:City> all week. On Wednesday, I was in meetings from 8:30am till 11:30pm, and Kofi Annan announced that he was suspending the talks between PNU (Kibaki government) and ODM (Raila opposition). On Thursday, I was only in meetings from 8:45am till 10pm, and <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place> announced that Kibaki and Raila had struck a deal, making Raila a Prime Minister with executive powers. </span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p>So things are better, definitely better. In fact, one can almost function under those conditions. But still, things are not ‘normalized’ yet, and there is a ways to go yet till we’ll be operating at our maximum ability. </span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-71529560450372789772008-02-22T13:47:00.000+03:002008-02-22T13:48:11.454+03:00What Happened While Kenya Dropped Off the Radar of the International NewsThe last number of weeks have been fairly quiet. I’ve been able to go back to life as almost-normal – using matatus to get around, not insisting to myself that I get home before dark, visiting friends, etc. But of course, it has not been the quiet of peace – it has been the quiet of a whole nation holding their breaths, waiting to see what will come of the Annan-led negotiations/mediations.<br /><br />In the meantime, Kenya was on the move. Not ‘on the move’ in the sense of getting ahead. ‘On the move’ in the sense of everyone literally packing up and moving to ‘safe’ places. Throughout Nairobi, people switched neighborhoods for fear of being attacked or burnt for living in the ‘wrong’ part of town. Across the nation, people made their way “back to their ancestral homes” – a way to describe moving back to the part of Kenya that historically held the primary tribe you are identified with, moving away from the land you may have bought a few years ago or which your grandfather may have been relocated to when he came out of the forest after independence, whose original land was taken away already - divvied up in the immediate spoils of post-independence freedom.<br /><br />While this was happening, militia have been solidifying their positions of authority in the rural areas and in the slums of the cities. It is the prevalence of these militia that I find particularly frightening, and where a lot of the potential for future violence lies.debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-76212552358135422392008-02-08T17:07:00.000+03:002008-02-08T17:11:11.404+03:00WebsitesCheck out the 2 new links on the side of webpage here -<br />- Kwani? blog - Kwani? is a great collective of writers based here in Nairobi. They hold open mic poetry readings once a month that are always fun to go to (a wide, wide, WIDE range of poems and talents), and have a number of great publications. The blog contains good writers writing about what has been happening here in Kenya.<br />- Peace in Kenya - information about what is happening to help us move towards peace in Kenya.debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-11427165088946687042008-02-08T17:04:00.000+03:002008-02-08T17:07:14.596+03:00Concerned Citizens for Peace<span lang="EN-US">Since the outbreaks of violence, a growing group of citizens have been meeting three times a week to try to find a way towards peace in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. They are a </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">loose collective of citizens, NGOs, professional associations, CBOs, learning institutions, etc. The group meets three mornings a week, and I attended today for the first time. The meetings are open, and intended to support the political dialogue (they are non-affiliated), spread positive messages to dissuade violence and retaliation, gather information on the violence, and engage the mass media. The flowers for peace at Uhuru Park is one of their initiatives – Uhuru Park was the place where ODM rallies kept being called and it has essentially been cordoned off by military police. They started a movement of placing flowers at one part of the park called Freedom Corner (where we held our Stop EPA day tomato smashing event), placing flowers in commemoration of the lives lost since the election. It has been a really powerful thing – well covered in the national press, and with all sides (including the military police) placing flowers. <o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">This morning there were probably around 60 people present. Folks brought up ideas of initiatives and then others would chip in to give advice, or support, and side meetings were scheduled for following up. Ideas included some kind of visible call to peace to the negotiators at Serena Hotel, a Peace and Love concert tour among the informal settlements, folks planning for actions on Valentines Day, folks working with the Law Society of Kenya to develop a legal framework for addressing the landlord & tenant issues, kids heading to Eldoret to work with the Universities there to initiate peace-building actions and counseling, Concerned Kenyan Writers passing on their plans, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">It was great to be surrounded by people who are active and involved in bringing peace to <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> – who are concerned, but also not willing to let their fear of what may happen get in the way of taking concrete steps towards peace. Even though I literally did not have anything to bring to the plans or discussions, it felt really good to be there. I’m feeling more hopeful than I have in a long time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-35348719134891155632008-02-05T09:24:00.000+03:002008-02-05T09:35:55.265+03:00Uncertainties<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-US">One of the women that I buy vegetables and fruit from tells me daily that Jesus must be coming soon because the world is going to pieces. So far, 2008 is that kind of year. In <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Chad</st1:place></st1:country-region>, there is extensive, indiscriminate fighting as rebels attempt to take control. In <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Uganda</st1:place></st1:country-region>, a building under construction collapsed last week. In <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Rwanda</st1:place></st1:country-region> this weekend there was a major earthquake. In <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>, we slide a bit further every day into something ugly and raw.</span><o:p></o:p><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">There is a voice in my head which says that this is a test of my faith – whether I can hold on to my faith in the midst of such suffering and confusion and helplessness. I hate this voice. I don’t believe it is right at all, but that’s not why I hate it – I hate it because when I hear it, I am struck by the overwhelming sense that this is a test that I am failing.<br /><o:p></o:p><br />Lent is coming. Part of me wants to put on sackcloth and repent, repent to God and the heavens and just see if it will all stop.* No, that’s not where I think peace will come from; no, I don’t think that God is punishing Kenya for turning from the Path of Righteousness. But oh, we have a long, long way to go yet towards peace and we seem to be driving ourselves further away each day. I watch the 9pm news, and realize that things were worse today than yesterday, that more people have died, that more people are homeless, that hatred is further entrenched and the negotiations are nowhere closer to concrete answers. I turn off the tv and sit in my apartment and listen to the sirens outside and what I want is to make a deal. I want to make a deal with God, with the Universe, with whoever will listen to me. I want an entity that will take whatever small allegiance I can claim, whatever pathetic promises I can offer, weigh these, and agree in return to call the whole thing off.<br /><o:p></o:p><br />This is not my faith. I don’t believe that we are ruled by a God who makes such deals – I don’t <i style="">want </i>my life to be ruled by a God willing to make such deals. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>But oh I want to make a deal.<span style=""> </span>I am tired, and I have shelter and enough food. I am lonely, and I have friends here and I don’t have to worry about anyone hating me for my ethnicity. I am close to desperate, and I know this is bad because this is going to go on a lot longer and there is a good chance it is going to get much worse.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>Well, it’s past my bedtime. I want to keep listening to Edgar Meyer play Bach cello suites on the double bass until everything gets better. But instead I’m going to brush my teeth and go to sleep and most likely I will wake up tomorrow morning in Nairobi, Kenya, which is still a place worth praying for and working in, a place that is still under God’s love and care.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">*Actually, the <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Nairobi</st1:City></st1:place> high fashion community has been creating and marketing sackcloth clothing the past few weeks. There was a piece on the news about it, and they showed how you can pair sackcloth tops and tunics with bright beads.</span></p>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-79773690796794875862008-01-31T16:56:00.000+03:002008-01-31T17:04:37.209+03:00interesting BBC page<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";" lang="EN-US"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7215303.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7215303.stm</a> – An interesting collection of quotes from Kenyan politicians and world leaders.<br /><br />Another MP has been shot dead. Eldoret and Kisumu are erupting...the neighborhood around my office is fairly quiet today, so let's hope that's the case throughout Nairobi.<br /><br />Seems like the MP was with a woman and her husband/boyfriend (who happened to be a POLICEMAN) shot them both. The bad thing is that, even if this is just a love triangle, it's still a policeman killing an MP, which is just not good. Especially now, and especially here.<br /><br />Otherwise, it's a beautiful sunny day, I didn't have to pay a late fee on my library books because they lost all records that the books were late, and I'm listening to a really excellent Modest Mouse album from Cory and Nathaniel. Yep - trying to be aware of the melting down of the social fabric around me and the terrible plight of thousands of Kenyans, and yet not respond by giving up all hope on life.<br /></span>debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20447059.post-15017452270161987572008-01-29T13:47:00.000+03:002008-01-29T13:53:14.066+03:00recommended article<a href="http://www.pambazuka.org/actionalerts/comments/862/">http://www.pambazuka.org/actionalerts/comments/862/</a><br /><br />This editorial from Business Daily (a weekly Nairobi newspaper owned by Daily Nation) makes some relevant points:<br />1) The violence in the Rift Valley (and spreading further into Western Kenya and throughout the country) is getting close to no longer being related to the elections at all, but rather hitting on long-standing issues of inequity and perceptions of power imbalance.<br />2) Kenya needs a new constitution.<br />3) Ethnic tensions have really blossomed under Kibaki's democratically elected government, in great part because of the electoral process.debbyscotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00577778612097540517noreply@blogger.com0