Black Jesus
Bless us
With a political solution
My african nation
Through these cracked streets
The black youth
With one tooth
On the back of this country
Trying to survive
But dying in this jungle
Full of murderers
Devil politicians
With their evil teeth
In our african pie
Let us die of starvation
Before our young nation grows
Like a flower blooms
The power is in the people
Our voice is us
And our blessing is black Jesus

Earlier this month it was announced that Mugabe’s Kimberley Process cronies have decided to give him until June to withdraw the soldiers in the Marange diamond fields. The army runs smuggling operations and use forced labour in mines whose profits benefit Zanu-PF.

Human Rights Watch exposed the horrors of Marange in June. A task team from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme followed soon after and confirmed HRW’s findings. They recommended Zimbabwe be suspended from trading in diamonds.

But the horrors have continued. “As recently as late October 2009, [HRW] uncovered rampant abuses by the military in Marange including forced labour, child labour, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption,” says the rights body.

There is a clear case for Zimbabwe to be suspended. The gems from Marange are blood diamonds, extracted through the persecution and oppression of those living in the area. But no: Zimbabwe gets away with it. By letting them off the hook, “this diamond monitoring body has utterly lost credibility,” says Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director. She is absolutely right.

Having failed to do anything about the rights abuses and military occupation of Marange, over the past few months since abuses have been exposed, it is highly unlikely that Mugabe will implement the Kimberley Process’s recommendations by the agreed deadline. And with friends like South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, DRC and Russia — why should he? Doubtless they’ll rush to his defence in June next year.

So the army will continue its plunder. The diamonds will continue to be smuggled. The people — women, children included — will continue to be oppressed and exploited. And the revenues will continue to fund senior Zanu-PF apparatchiks’ lavish lifestyles. All the while, the country continues its implosion: blackouts roll across the country; people starve; hospitals have no medicine; sewage trickles in the street.

Perhaps we should all boycott purchasing diamonds (of course in these dark times it’s not like there are vast hordes rushing to the jewellery shop anyway). But let’s boycott nonetheless. If there was a significant drop in sales, perhaps the diamond-producing countries that allowed Zimbabwe’s shame to continue, will develop scruples. It’s worth a try.

After all, there’s very little one can do, it seems, except jump up and down — and weep, and pray that sanity may prevail in Zimbabwe. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s re-engagement with Mugabe in the sham “unity” government is a great pity. It means his threats are empty. Mugabe can continue regardless. Do you really think Mugabe’s going to fall in line within thirty days like Tsvangirai’s demanded he do? And what then — another deadline?

The unity government has failed to stop Zanu-PF’s reign of terror: human rights continue to be violated with brutal impunity. And the country continues to fall apart. Tsvangirai is an appeaser. His dalliance with Zanu-PF makes me curious: is he stupid, naïve, or has he been bought by Mugabe’s machine? He reminds me of Neville Chamberlain, and the British prime minister’s desperate attempts to secure “peace in our time” in the months before World War II. Well, as that tragic history showed us, appeasement only led to immense suffering, cataclysmic violence and upheaval.

If Morgan Tsvangirai really cares about his country and the members of his party that continue being persecuted, he must act decisively and abandon the marriage he should never have agreed to. Mugabe needs his foe — and bedfellow — to maintain his legitimacy. If the latter walks away, the promise of aid, investment and all the other lifelines that would prop up the Zanu-PF regime will be pulled away.

I admit, it’s not easy for old Morgan. His job is difficult. And lonely. Shamefully, the SADC (which should stand for Southern African Dictators’ Club thanks to its tireless support for Mugabe’s tyranny) is not interested in true democracy taking root in Zimbabwe. Rather, the regional body craves a continuation of the postcolonial aristocracy in which despotic psychopaths can pillage and persecute freely because they are somehow entitled to. SADC’s logic appears to be that such ghastly behaviour is reward for having liberated their countries from the Europeans.

But the threat of regional alienation is no excuse for Tsvangirai to be co-opted by SADC. It is no excuse for him to become the useful idiot acting out SADC’s wilful contempt for the democratic will of the Zimbabwean people. Zimbabwe has suffered long enough. It is time Tsvangirai stops talking and starts acting.

Famous Faces Movember

There was a mini flurry of excitement in February when TV viewers thought they detected a faint fuzz on US President Barack Obama’s upper lip. Was he going to be the first president to sport a moustache since William Howard Taft in 1923? False alarm it seems, and the White House remains a facial-hair-free zone.

But in the interests of promoting Movember, the men’s health initiative to raise funds for prostate cancer by growing sponsored moustaches, we thought it would be interesting to see how Obama and a number of other prominent politicos would look if they decided to become a Mo Bro (or Mo Sista).

George W Bush

Anti war protesters used pictures of Dubba with a Hitler moustache to give the ex-Prez a bad name. We thought we’d prefer to see him with an imperial style – hair growing from upper lip and cheeks and curled upwards. Appropriate for a guy who once led the biggest empire in the Free World.

Sarah Palin

In Turkey the slogan “do I have to have a moustache to be in Parliament?” highlighted the lack of women in powerful places. We know the former Alaskan Governor is now just an ordinary citizen, but her brief run to glory qualifies the gal as a Mo Sista.

Vladimir Putin

President Putin has revived the cult of the body with his mastery of the sporting-political scene. Photographs in which he fishes, practises judo and strikes a variety of absurd, he-man poses have inspired not ridicule, but adoration.  So we say lead the way Vladimir, by inspiring world leaders to grow a mo!

Helen Clark

With her consciously low-pitched voice, former NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark, now head of the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position, was frequently accused of being more of a man than the blokes she ruled. So why not a mo as well?

Hone Harawira

Currently the bad boy of NZ politics because he skived off for a weekend in Paris with his wife when he should have been in boring Brussels meetings. Why not a mo to improve his prospects?

Hillary Clinton

She’s been accused of wearing pants to undermine male authority. We say why not go the whole hog?

Rodney Hide

He ditched his wife and a ton of weight, found (much younger) new love and went dizzy on Dancing with the Stars. Now his perk-busting reputation is shattered with revelations of tax-payer funded jaunts with blonde Louise to Hawaii and points north. All he needs now is sexy mouth hair.

Nicholas Sarkozy

He wears shoes with heels and he’s married to Carla Bruni. All that’s left for him to grow a mo to beat Mugabe’s.

The following is doing the rounds in Zimbabwe.

Joke starts.

Queen Elizabeth, Bill Clinton and Rob Mugabe die
and go to hell. But the Devil has only one phone there.

Queen says “I miss my England can I use your phone
and hear how my people are doing down there?”
She calls and talks about five minutes. Then she
asks: “Well devil, how much do I owe you for the call?” The devil says:
“Five million dollars.”

She writes him a cheque and goes back to her chair.

Clinton wants to make a call too. He says “I wanna
call the US .” He talks about ten minutes, and then asks “How much
do I owe you devil?”
The devil says “Ten million dollars.” He also writes a cheque and goes back to his seat.

Mugabe is jealous. He says “I want to call Zim”.
He calls and talks for about an hour … then he asks the devil “How much
do I owe you?” The devil replies: “Only one dollar.”

Mugabe is shocked and asks “Why so little?” The
devils says: “If you make a call from one hell to another, it’s local………

PERSPECTIVE
The dust has finally settled and the curtain closed. The African National Congress (ANC)emerged victors of the 2009 presidential and parliamentary elections. Their landslide victory comfortably secures them an upper hand in driving the affairs of South Africa and its infant democracy.
However, the ANC still faces major challenges as it desperately fights to keep the legacy of one of the world’s most respected statesmen, Nelson Mandela. It is a legacy that rescued South Africa’s black population from the ruthless and cruel hands of apartheid. Yet, not even a fresh faced election victory masks the challenges still facing this government.
Zuma’s government has a huge task in gaining the confidence of an electorate which ushered them into power. His government still has a lot to achieve and prove, in order to convince its people at the grassroots especially those living in abject poverty,  that his cabinet are worth their vote and are committed to bringing positive change and alleviating poverty in their communities.
In the past decade South Africa has faced a serious political meltdown threatening the maturity of its infant democracy.
History remembers well the sacking of then deputy president Jacob Zuma by former president Thabo Mbeki. At a high profile press conference, Mbeki disclosed that allegations of corruption against Zuma were the motivation behind his decision to remove Zuma from office.
The decision by Thabo Mbeki to fire Jacob Zuma as his deputy president enraged the ANC, which would later force Mbeki to vacate his presidency. Mbeki was accused of being on a mission to block all avenues that would see Zuma the next president of South Africa.
With integrity and dignity, a sombre Mbeki obliged.
History also remembers vividly why in the past decade, South Africa’s political chores have been widely criticized and put under scrutiny by Africa and the rest of the world. Former president Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy towards the Zimbabwe crisis was a much talked about issue that contributed to both South Africa and Zimbabwe’s political woes. Mbeki’s approach in dealing with Zimbabwe’s political crisis was widely condemned and as such, was seen by political scholars as a serious weakness on Mbeki’s ability to resolve conflicts. Thabo Mbheki’s quiet diplomacy wreaked havoc on Zimbabwe and has negatively impacted on South Africa’s political image. In a desperate move to resolve Zimbabwe’s political problems, deep seated members in the ANC wanted an entirely different approach to the Zimbabwe crisis as opposed to Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy. Frustrated ANC members wanted Mbeki to openly condemn Robert Mugabe’s land reforms which has culminated in the mass murderers of white farmers and MDC cadres. The ANC also wanted Thabo Mbheki to condemn Mugabe’s habit of clinging to power. In the same breath, Africa and the rest of the world accused Mugabe of rigging that country’s elections, which would have seen Morgan Tsvangirai become Zimbabwe’s first democratically elected president, since Robert Mugabe’s regime.
Thabo Mbeki’s failure to resolve conflicts affecting SADC regions especially Zimbabwe’s crisis was seen by many especially the United States and European union as a major blow to Africa’s political and economic development. He failed miserably and his silent approach only contributed to that country’s tragic political and economic demise. Last month, Prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted Zimbabwe’s power sharing deal with Robert Mugabe but has since called off his boycott and has now demanded Robert Mugabe implement the agreements on the pertinent issues which that country is concerned about. To date, the political situation in Zimbabwe is still unripe with no talk bearing fruit.  Zimbabwe is yet to see positive results of a power sharing government.
Zimbabwe, a country once known as the bread basket of Africa has the highest inflation rates and now lies in the shadows of its former glory; isolated, plagued by starvation and violence, and currently sits on economic sanctions slapped on its government by international institutions.
The tragic events of  that country’s political and economic events have seen an influx of Zimbabwean refugees cross into South Africa in order to escape political unrest and starvation in their own country. Everyday,  some hundreds of Zimbabweans brave the storms to seek refuge in South Africa. Of these immigrants, a large 80% are illegal immigrants who resort to crimes ranging from white collar crimes to violent crimes in order to survive the streets of South Africa, especially Johannesburg. Whilst it is a fact that most of these crimes are partly committed by indigenous south Africans, illegal immigrants from all over Africa seeking a better life in South Africa yet end up finding themselves on the streets of South Africa are more likely to commit crimes on a regular basis in order to survive the harsh realities of life on the streets.
There has been a disturbing increase in crime in recent months with banks being targeted. Crimes committed regularly include rape,  senseless murders, house robberies, car thefts, car hijackings, with the introduction of ATM bombings in 2008 being the latest crime fashion.
South African police are been full on their hands and a record high of police lives have been lost in the line of duty in their quest to combat these crimes.
Add xenophobia attacks to the list and you know Zuma’s government faces major challenges in winning back the confidence of its electorate. In 2008, South Africa experienced one of the worst crimes committed by Africans against each other in xenophobic attacks. Hundreds of foreigners were viciously attacked a year ago by indigenous South Africans who accused foreign Africans especially Zimbabweans of taking what is left of their economy. Lack of government’s failure to deliver on its promises fuelled anger amongst South Africans living in squalor, hence the underlying motivation behind the xenophobia attacks. South Africans living in abject poverty have since taken to the streets to protest against government’s failure to deliver on its promises. In recent weeks, Xenophobia has reared its ugly head again in De Doorns in the western cape forcing some 2,400 African foreign immigrants to vacate their homes and failing to report for work.
Despair and pent up anger amongst indigenous South Africans living in deplorable conditions in shanty compounds has reached fever pitch as they helplessly watch their foreign counterparts rise up to economic challenges.
However, in spite of all these challenges, President Jacob Zuma insists that job creation, crime reduction and alleviating poverty is top of the agenda on his list, but people are increasingly getting frustrated and are taking to the streets in mass protests in an attempt to have their voices heard, and their patience is fast running out.
The United States and European union have urged Zuma to speed up change in Zimbabwe so that there is a change of leadership in that country. They have openly condemned Mugabe’s constitution and land reforms and continue to lash out at Mugabe for bringing that country to its tragic fall and subjecting his people to starvation and violence.
With corruption and a tendency of practicing half baked democracies being the norm in most African countries,  the United States and European union demand governments adhere to its mandate. It warns African governments and other undemocratic governments around the world to rid themselves of corruption and practice transparency in order to qualify for funding which could save their economies.

Hard pressing challenges are looming over the ANC’s shoulders and the world is now watching Zuma closely more than ever before with keen interest and anticipation, to see how his government rises to these challenges-By Sheria Mwangala, Freelance journalist,  Johannesburg South Africa.

By Oliver Farrimond

VETERAN human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called on Alex Salmond and the SNP administration to legalise same-sex civil marriage in Scotland.

He also condemned the “disproportionate influence” of the Catholic Church on the Scottish Government, saying that church leaders were “out of touch” with ordinary Catholics.

Tatchell, who has campaigned on gay rights issues for more than 40 years, was speaking ahead of his appearance today (17 Nov) at a National Library event with former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway.

In an interview before today’s event, he claimed that while Scotland had previously been seen as leading the way on gay rights, particularly in repealing Section 28, in recent years it had been “slow” on certain issues.

Tatchell, 57, said: “The ban on same-sex civil marriage and opposite-sex civil partnerships is a form of sexual apartheid – one law for gays and another for straights.

“I appeal to Alex Salmond and the SNP to lead the way by legislating same-sex civil marriage in Scotland.

“I hope Scotland will pioneer marriage equality and show-up England’s failings on gay human rights.

“Scotland led the way on repealing Section 28 but it’s been a bit slow on issues like child adoption by lesbian and gay couples.

“But the Catholic hierarchy seems to have disproportionate influence with the SNP government.”

Responding to Tatchell’s call for legalised same-sex marriage, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The law already allows same sex couples to register and formalise their relationship by forming a civil partnership.

“The rights and responsibilities that flow from civil partnership largely mirror those that flow from marriage.

“While we listen to representations on such issues, we have no current plans to amend the law in this area.

Inclusion

“The Scottish Government promotes equality and inclusion for the LGBT community in Scotland, and Ministers right across government regularly attend and support LGBT events.

“An LGBT equality seminar in Brussels, the national LGBT conference in Dundee, and the annual Gay Pride event in Glasgow last year are just a few examples.

“Indeed, last year, this government was the first Scottish administration to have a Minister – Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – address Pride.”

Since his first experiences as a gay rights campaigner in London in the early 1970s, Australian-born Tatchell has earned worldwide recognition for his tireless championing of a wide variety of causes.

No stranger to controversy, Tatchell has seen his media profile surge in recent years thanks to a series of high profile incidents in pursuit of his campaigning goals.

In 2001 he attempted a citizens’ arrest on Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe, and in May 2007 was assaulted by anti-gay rights protestors during a march in Moscow – although he has said previously that he is not deterred “one iota” from returning to Russia to protest.

And although he counts murdered Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero and revered US Catholic Dorothy Day as two of his political inspirations, he is a vocal critic of the Vatican on many social issues, and gay rights in particular.

He said: “Most lay Catholics are not homophobic – it’s the church leadership that’s the problem.”

‘Bigoted’

“Successive Catholic leaders have made inflammatory, bigoted statements about gay people which would not have been considered acceptable if they were made about people who are black or Jewish.

“I am really saddened that the Scottish cardinal and many of his priests and bishops endorse legal discrimination against Scots who are gay and lesbian.

“The Vatican and the Catholic hierarchy in Scotland are out of touch with most Catholic lay people in their position on contraception, fertility treatment and gay human rights.”

However Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church, hit back fiercely at Tatchell, calling his remarks “demented ravings”.

He said: “I challenge Peter Tatchell to give a single example where the Scottish Catholic Church has opposed legislation and won.

“Actually, I would argue that the influence of the Scottish Catholic Church is disproportionately UN-successful.

‘Demented ravings’

“Here are some examples in the last 10 years: In the section 28 debate, the Catholic Church opposed the legislation – and lost.

“In the 2003 Sexual Health Strategy debate, the Catholic Church opposed the legislation – and lost.

“In the debate over civil partnerships, the Catholic Church opposed the legislation – and lost.

“If he had even the most transient experience with the realities of Scottish politics, he would know this.

“Frankly, his assertions sound like demented ravings.”

Although his political career to date is chequered – he left the Labour Party in 2000, and was denounced by Labour leader Michael Foot in 1981 – he was announced in 2007 as the Green Party’s candidate for the Oxford East constituency.

A long-time proponent of electoral reform, he is a member of the pressure group Vote for a Change – and argues that the Scottish voting system far outweighs its “rigged” Westminster counterpart.

He said: “The Westminster voting system is a disgrace to democracy.

‘Rigged’

“No British government since World War II has won a majority of the popular vote, and every single Prime Minister has won power on minority support.

“In the 2005 general election Labour won less than 40% of the vote, but claimed nearly 70% of the seats.

“That’s not democracy – it’s a rigged election system.

“The Scottish election system is for more representative and fair, because the number of seats won by each party corresponded more clearly to the number of votes for each party.

“I am campaigning to get the Scottish system adopted for elections to the House of Commons.

“Scotland has led the way, and Westminster must follow.”

Tatchell was speaking as part of the National Library of Scotland’s “Inspirations” series of events, where famous figures discuss their careers to date.

I’ve just learned something about the stunning visions of a prophet called Siener van Rensburg. For those who haven’t heard the name before, here is a brief introduction. Nicolaas Pieter Johannes Janse van Rensburg was an Afrikaner who lived between 1862 and 1926 in the Transvaal Republic (which later became a part of South Africa). The Boer people (Afrikaans-speaking Boere or Afrikaners or Boerevolk) of South Africa consider him a prophet who was sent by God to help them with his remarkably accurate visions. His nickname became Siener, which is Afrikaans for “seer” or “soothsayer”. The Afrikaners respectfully refer to him as “Oom Niklaas” (Uncle Nicolaas) or “Siener” van Rensburg.

Siener van Rensburg was born on August 30, 1862 in Potchefstroom to a farming family. He was a deeply religious person who was taught by his mother to read the Bible. He couldn’t write, but his visions were recorded by others like the reverend Dr. Rossouw and van Rensburg’s own daughter Anna Badenhorst. His visions not only concerned the welfare of his people, the Boerevolk, during his time but he was also able to accurately predict several future world events with stunning accuracy.

Skeptics have their doubts but one just needs to consider the accuracy with which this seer predicted events that were going to unfold in the future. Even the predictions of Nostradamus sound vague when compared to those of Siener van Rensburg. Alarmingly, this Afrikaner prophet’s predictions seem to include certain shocking things that the citizens of the world shall have to live through in the coming years. Watch and more importantly, listen carefully to this three part television documentary about Siener van Rensburg and draw your own conclusions.

Image: www.rapport.co.za

Uhuru – crazy urban legend, stunningly accurate prediction or self-fulfilling prophecy?

One spine-chilling event that Siener van Rensburg is believed to have predicted is a deliberate future campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in South Africa. The history of South Africa is an unpleasant one, and despite the democratic transition that the country went through in 1994, not everything seems to be fine in the Rainbow Nation.

“Operation Uhuru”, also known by names such as “Operation Vula”, “Night of the Long Knives”, “Operation White Clean-up,” “Operation Iron Eagle”, “Red October Campaign” and “Operation Our Rainy Day”, whether it is imaginary or for real, refers to a diabolical plan to completely exterminate the White citizens of South Africa by a systematic and planned campaign of ethnic cleasing upon the death of a Black leader.

Critics and skeptics (and the South African rulers) dismiss this as a crazy urban legend propagated by right-wingers in South Africa who want to overthrow the government. They believe people with vested interests are deliberately twisting one of Siener van Rensburg’s prophecies to achieve their own political goals.

Others believe the bloodshed and the resulting struggle will certainly take place as predicted by Seiner van Rensburg. They point out that racial tensions are running high in South Africa and all it would take is the death of a popular leader (like the old and ailing Nelson Mandela, for instance) to re-ignite the old hatred. Some claim that Uhuru is being planned on a grand scale and that certain elements would unleash a reign of genocidal terror at the appropriate time, with the authorities either turning a blind eye or playing an active role in the ethnic cleansing.

They point out that the crime rate in South Africa is extremely high with Afrikaners being subjected to horrific violence in farm attacks and that the South African regime supported the dictator Robert Mugabe whose thugs let loose a similar reign of terror (on a smaller scale compared to “Uhuru”) in neighbouring Zimbabwe. They also state that the regime is actively disarming citizens by making it much more difficult to own legal firearms while illegal weapons (including assault rifles) are freely used by gangsters and criminals to commit violent crimes.

There is also the very real danger of Uhuru turning out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if it’s just a rumour, most people in South Africa seem to be aware of this. Even if only a few criminal elements actually plan to carry it out when the leader dies, many Afrikaners are prepared to defend themselves from being slaughtered en masse as their prophet Seiner van Rensburg advised them to do. In such a charged environment, all it would take is a tiny little spark to cause a massive explosion of violence and bloodshed. The peoples of the world would not even be aware that a genocide is taking place. Even if they were, the world might choose not to interfere in a “civil war” as all the lowly semi-civilised Third World countries (including the two veto-wielding big bullies in the UNSC) would back the South African regime.

This would most likely turn out to be true. Unlike the First World peoples who at least protest against their criminal regimes which murder people en masse, the uncouth hordes that (over)populate most semi-civilised Third World countries would blindly support any filthy regime that butchers their own fellow citizens. The hordes of every other uncouth country would only be too eager to lick the filthy boots of their respective rogue regimes, as voracious boot-licking is an art perfected by the Third World hordes. With the globalist crooks determined to bridge the ethical and civilisational gap between the First and Third Worlds by forcefully pulling down the First World to the lowly standards set by the semi-civilised Third World, it’s highly unlikely that anyone would even acknowledge a genocide that takes place in the lowly Third World. Thus, the third possibility of Uhuru turning out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy is the scariest.     

However, according to Siener van Rensburg’s prophecies, the trouble in South Africa would almost coincide with catastrophic events happening around the world (including World War III      ), and the Boerevolk would succeed in their “final and fiercest struggle”. According to Oom Niklaas, “This would come to pass when the ice begins to melt.” 

Siener van Rensburg prophecies are something I’d love to learn more about. If anyone knows a site that contains all his prophecies (including the uninterpretable ones), please let me know.   

(P.S.: I apologise for temporarily abandoning the post called A tale of two teens. Having reduced the frequency with which I post, it shall have to wait for a much longer time.     )

(bilden är hämtad härifrån)

Le premier ministre de la république du  Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai à déclaré  à Maputo que son parti, le mouvement pour le changement démocratique ont retiré leur boycott du gouvernement d’union.

Le premier ministre Morgan Tsvangirai

Morgan  Tsvangirai a fait cette déclaration  suite à une réunion à Maputo de  la troïka de la communauté de développement de l’Afrique australe -SADC- et les parties zambiennes. D’après le premier ministre Tsvangira,  son parti donnerait un mois au président Robert Mugabe afin qu’il puisse mettre  en oeuvre l’accord de partage de pouvoir signé entre les principaux partis politiques zimbabwéens en septembre 2008.

O ditador do Zimbábue Robert Mugabe tomou violentamente as minas de diamantes do país para usar o dinheiro para financiar uma milícia política brutal.

O grupo de países que regula o comércio internacional de diamantes está  reunido agora na Namíbia para decidir se irão banir os “diamantes de sangue” de Mugabe do mercado internacional.

Nós só temos esta semana para persuadir estes países a tomarem a decisão certa. Precisamos recolher uma enxurrada de assinaturas, elas serão entregues directamente na reunião na Namíbia. Assine no link abaixo e depois encaminhe este alerta para os seus amigos:

http://www.avaaz.org/po/diamonds_for_love_not_hate

Todos nós estamos a aprender que o que consumimos pode afectar as vidas de pessoas do outro lado do mundo. Jóias ou anéis de noivado devem ser um símbolo de amor e não munição para guerras, vamos deixar isto claro para o mercado internacional de diamantes.

Move over Jeremy Kyle, there’s a new sadist on the block, and he’s far nastier than you. Grand Inquisitor of ’satirical’ television, Javier Cardenas is here to administer vigilante justice to vile, filthy dirty sinners in the name of a vindictive belly-laugh. That’s right, the flotsam and jetsam of daytime television, the famous-for-being-famous, those lowly scum who come from nothing and dare to have ended up with more in life than you do. Riches beyond your wildest dreams, just for being in the right place at the right time, for having a big mouth, or a gay son, or big breasts. They’re ready for a roasting! Who’s going to get roasted today, then? The Frikis you say? Yeah, I hate them, those Frikis, burn the lot of them, chuck ‘em into the fiery pit of Hell, because they deserve it, the talentless upstarts. Kill the Frikis!

“FREAK: All that is extravagant, eccentric and with a set of values different from those which are socially established and therefore are considered marginalised. “. (Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy)

“FRIKI: adj. Adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon term freak. Better known as the Spanish nut-job or Iberian Freaky. Has a long tradition in Spanish imagery. In former times they used to tie them in the village stocks, and these days they roll out the red carpet, they dedicate street names to them and build equestrian statues. They‘re everywhere on television and they’re always waiting in the shadows ready for their chance to pounce.’ (From the FBI website).

Would you like to see some Frikis being lynched? All you need to do is look for links on Youtube to clips from Cardenas’ film ‘FBI’ Frikis Buscan Incordiar (Freaks Seeking Wind Ups) You will have to have a strong stomach. I am a fan of Horror films, but that’s because I know they’re not real. Watching this is truly horrific, because you know the tears and the laughter are genuine.

In the film, which took an impressive €917,643,64 in 2004, proving that there is always a baying public for the Inquisition, Cardenas belittles and righteously ‘punishes’ various characters who need pulling down a peg pr two for the unforgivable sin of being tv trash. The clips are disturbing, not least because of the gusto with which the presenters intimidate their victims, Cardenas in particular.

But who is this new Torquemada of daytime tv? More vindictive than Jeremy Beadle, More self-important than Jerry Springer and more brutal than Robert Mugabe. What do we know about him? Go to the FBI webpage and you can check out his credentials:

´Surname: Cardenas, Name: Javier, Age: 30, (apparently- I would say he’s younger), Profession: Bon Viveur, Sex: he says infreuqnetly (uncofirmed sources), Civil State: Badalona, characteristic features: insincere smile, gymn-body, Observations: has a dangerous streak.In case of emergency wear the same face-mask as per Hannibal Lecter.’

In the tag photo he is shown wearing a Hannibal Lecter mask. Original.

I did the flimsiest of research. According to Wikipedia: ‘Cardenas employs a caustic and ironic tone with his interviewees….contributing to his early rise to fame but now this irony has tipped over into excruciatingly leaden practical jokes…. from a simple interviewer to the provoker of situations which invade the victim’s sense of honour and go so far as to belittle some mental illnesses and disabilities for the supposed amusement of his public and his own personal financial gain.‘

Cardenas, during his time at Telecinco (TV5, once known as Teletetas’ – ‘tiittytv’ for it’s lowbrow programming) honed his interviewing technique with the use of grotesque side-kicks who have since made a name for themselves. People like Carmen de Mairena, a transvestite well past her sell-by date, El Pozi, a toothless village idiot with one catchphrase, and la Pantoja de Puerto Rico, another transvestite who specialises in mimicking Isabel Pantoja, who is difficult to distinguish from a transvestite herself. Let’s all laugh at the freaks as long as the freaks get some cash crumbs as well.

Luckily, someone has already had an inkling that all is not well with Cardenas’ cruel humour. In 2005 he was taken to court and sentenced for offending the legitimate honour of a disabled interviewee. Something tells me he’s not really that bothered about the sentence. He has over 100 other cases awaiting trial.

But you will have to watch some clips from his film to make up your own mind. You don‘t really need to speak Spanish or understand the dialogue. The images are enough. The set-up is self-explanatory: First appeal to minor celebrity’s greed/lust/pride – ‘do you agree to our conditions? We want to send you on a cruise/give you a gift/take you somewhere special./film a porno scene with you.. sign here….’ Once the contract is signed, the poor sop is restrained physically under the guise of some trickery, then as realisation of his plight dawns, he/she taunted with a litany of ’sins’, and despite pleading, retrbution is administered, up to and well beyond the point of bad taste or compassion.

The scene where Carmen de Mairena enters the bedroom and seduces Arlekin while he recites poetry is, frankly, disturbing. She is willfully grotesque, the camera zooming in on the inside-out gusset of her tights as she straddles him. Their lingering kiss, as she sucks his lips with her inflated silicone mouth leaves you feeling queasy. Arlekin strokes her back and pats her tightly-stockinged buttock, which he thinks belongs to some young tart paid to seduce him. Cardenas leans over them by the side of the bed, offering devilishly suave, and somehow distinctly latino encouragement. Something creepy and unpleasantly soft and shaky in his tone of voice, what I would refer to as a ‘wanking voice’, as he insinuates

‘that’s right, have a good old kiss, oh yeah… go on, and now with tongues and everything…. that’s it, get that tongue in there… there you go…’

More disturbing is the depilation of the hairdresser Juan Miguel- oh, such sweet irony! I´m still not sure what his sin is apart from being a celebrity hairdresser and possibly having a Zapata moustache and unruly body hair. If you had any doubts before, these are scenes of bondage and torture. I felt distinctly uncomfortable as they strapped him onto the depliation bed and began to torment him, but the scene grew much worse. Cardenas and his blankly smiling fetishistic nurse were soon holding him down and gleefully tearing strips of hot wax from him as he screamed and begged for mercy. Watch their faces. Cardenas in particular enjoys his victim’s physical pain and psychological humiliation. It is pitiful at the end of the scene when the hairdresser tries to escape, half-laughing, half crying, and literally tears himself from the bondage of the depilation table, trailing metal appendages and straps. Cardenas follows him, hopping like a demon and taunts him, daubing him all over with wax in one last jeering attack. Cardenas is like the school bully here, giddy with glee at his own sadism and power. The type of little boy who always has to win.

Please don’t get me wrong- I am not against sadism per se. It is just non-consensual sadism I am against. These victims are not submissives: they express their disagreement, objections, nerves and finally anger and even fear, and Cardenas waves their contracts in their faces and continues to torment them with invasive, violent and dangerous punishments intended to provide public amusement.

There was something vilely aggressive about the witch-hunt of Encarni, the mother of some Big Brother contestant who went on herself to gain a career in day-time television. She committed the unpardonable sin of being a big-mouth tart who landed her own presenter’s contract. She was strapped into a chair-like contraption and hoisted into the air on a metal platform. All you needed was the duck pond and the screaming villagers. ‘If she drowns she’s innocent, if she doesn’t, we burn her!’ At the top of the bungee platform, after taunting her about the height and the precariousness of their situation a man bent over her and like Torquemada yelled a list of her sins into her face while she cried and begged to be let down. ‘Don’t push me off, please don’t push me off, please…’ she sobbed. Then he pushed her backwards into the abyss. Burn the witch! Kill it! Poke it with a stick!

La Bruja Lola (Literally Lola the Witch in case you were in any doubt what to hate her for). A pathetic and frazzled-looking old medium, apparently a charlatan, verbally provoked and mocked during a televised sceance and then threatened with live serpents. Another medium, Paco Porra, tricked into being restrained in a harness and hauled out to sea on the end of a rope despite the crew forgetting to fit his neck-brace and shouting, as his flailing body disappears underwater ‘he’s drowning- oh shit, I forgot the collar-’

And finally the torture of Hosmar, also known as ‘Rambo’s poofter son’. Watching this made me wince, as it most closely reminded me of depictions of demons tormenting people in Hell with fiery pitchforks. This poor victim was strapped into a wooden stocks, then electrodes attached to his bare behind, and was made to recite various humiliating pleas for clemency while stronger and stronger voltage was applied to his buttocks until he wept and sobbed for it to stop. The camera zooms in closely on his jiggling buttocks and weeping face. The Inquisitor’s nonchalance as he administers more and more voltage is deeply upsetting. Genuine suffering and degradation – real tears – that’s it, make the gayboy cry– hurt his arse- now that’s what I call television!

“The Atlantic Monthly” just added to the history of useless lists with its new “Brave Thinkers” list, published in the latest issue of the magazine.

“Twenty-seven people with courageous ideas … that are shaping our future” reads the tagline for this brave innovation. The list is also subject of its own page on the magazine’s website.

Apparently a lot of work went into the production of the list. Yet the bulk of the entries reads like yesterday–Arthur Sulzberger Jr. (this is a guy who runs a family-owned newspaper that is struggling with the internet age), Ralph Nader (c’mon), and the creators of South Park (the series is a relic of the early 2000s)–or pop up on every other magazine list, which questions the point of the whole think.

Okay, so did any Africans make it, you want to know?

Yes, Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean Prime Minister and Opposition leader: “He stood his ground against Robert Mugabe and is now bringing some normalcy back to the country.” [Yes, that image was used to illustrate the entry.]

I know, I like Tsvangirai, but what “normalcy” is there in Zimbabwe? Are they aware of the extrajudicial killings, attacks on opposition supporters and their prosecution on trumped-up charges continuing. This was also written before Tsvangirai–in frustration–withdrew last week from the unity government with Mugabe.

There’s one thing they don’t like about him, though: “Tsvangirai is no saint: he’s … made oblique threats of popular violence.“

The Atlantic likes its heroes to be non-violent always.

Link.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s prime minister and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has announced its decision to boycott the country’s unity cabinet. (photo, from aljazeera.net)

Although Robert Mugabe, the country’s president, has criticised the party of his estranges coalition partner, he said on Saturday that he remains committed to working with Tsvangirai’s MDC despite the boycott.

However the president called on the MDC to honour the power-sharing agreement it entered with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party last year in a bid to end political violence.

Earlier this month, Tsvangirai announced the boycott, accusing Mugabe of refusing to fully implement the power-sharing agreement.

At the funeral of one of his party’s senate members, Mugabe said the MDC has “one leg in, and one leg out” of the government.

“The requirement is that we indeed continue step-by-step to move together and whatever are the difficulties, become our difficulties together,” he said.

“For one party … to decide ‘We shall not be fully in the process’ … then you begin to wonder whether you went into the agreement with persons who actually appreciated what going into an agreement means.”

‘Dishonest’

State media also reported on Saturday that Mugabe called the MDC leader “dishonest”.

“They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest,” he said.

“We, however, want to assure you that we will not allow the situation to continue like that.”

In the same time as Mugabe’s comments, negotiators from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) proposed an emergency summit to resolve the crisis.

Sadc is a 15-member bloc that has been involved in a search for a solution to Zimbabwe’s governance problems.

Over the past two days, ministers from Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia, support staff from the Sadc secretariat and representatives of Thabo Mbeki, a Sadc mediator and former South African president, have been meeting Zimbabwean officials.

Even though it was not immediately clear how the negotiations progressed, analysts said there were slim chances of a breakthrough because the Zanu-PF and the MDC remain at loggerheads over some aspects of their power-sharing pact.

The MDC says Zanu-PF has blocked the swearing-in of some of its officials.

The power-sharing deal between Zanu-PF and MDC was signed in September last year, following a crisis after disputed elections and political violence.

Chinobhururuka chinomhara.

Office of the President
Munhumutapa Building
Samora Machel Avenue/ 3rd Street
Harare, Zimbabwe

25 October 2009

Dear Mr President,

On behalf of voiceless Zimbabweans, I write this letter pregnant with anger over the inflammatory announcement of the imminent inauguration of the paramilitary youth militia training by your government. Zimbabweans implore that you immediately reverse any further recruitment of ZANU (PF) youths into these camps that churn out rapists, murderers, and impenitent human rights violators.

The insensitive and unilateral act of reactivating these camps is psychological torture to the multitudes of innocent victims of the dreadful Youth Militia’s last orgy of violence during the previous elections, and the abrupt appearance of hordes of youth militia clad in green military fatigues is an intimidatory tactic meant as a menace to the populace. Our collective umbrage with this latest offensive taunt forms part of a laundry list of provocative acts by you aimed at derailing the fragile national healing and reconciliation process.

Please be advised that the collapse of the Government of National Unity (GNU) renders your already precarious position as Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces untenable and relegates you to the archives of illegitimate presidents.

Avert humiliation, accept the various dignified exit strategies and retirement options painstakingly penned by your peers and laid out before your office.  In the name of democracy, justice, and peace, the people of Zimbabwe beseech you to immediately retire and resign from the Office of the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe needs leadership renewal coupled to an economic revival and your departure from the body politic will be the trigger point for a peaceful national transformation.

Your tenure as President is divisive and continues to cause political discord and ethnic fissures that threaten peace and tranquillity in both Zimbabwe and the region. Your stubbornness and intransigence pauses a palpable threat to the coexistence of Zimbabweans and to your fellow principals of the Global Political Agreement.

Please take this opportunity to dissolve parliament and announce a date for fresh parliamentary and presidential elections in which you shall not participate.

Thank you for your attention in this matter and Zimbabweans await your response.

Yours Sincerely,

Phil Matibe

www.madhingabucketboy.com

cc: The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe – Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai

If people asked me why I hate Akon I would play this vile, odious garbage from 2007. Fortunately,  nobody asks me why because it’s obvious. It’s because he’s a terrible, terrible cunt.

This is genuinely vulgar fare from a sleazy, charmless creep presented here in a sanitised form, like putting shit in a resealable bag. Snoop Dogg doesn’t have to worry about credibility, so he can appear on stuff like this unscathed but how Akon could shamefacedly sing ‘I see you winding and grinding up on that pole…I wanna fuck you?’. Real thoughtful Akon, well done.

We know that Akon has difficulty respecting women but I find it hard to believe he thought that passed for an acceptable lyric. I’m possibly over critical of lyrics but then I always think there should be some meaning behind a song, beyond animalistic grunting?

For Akon, that might as well be all they are about. He typifies all the worst things about R&B music. Imbecilic, vacuous, indignant, empty nonsense. Arrogance works for some people, they can pull it off because they can back it up with good work. Akon is just a smug prick.

It’s possibly the worst thing he’s released and from a man with his dubious track record that’s saying something. Of all the terrible things you can associate with Africa: genocide, famine, Robert Mugabe, Akon is by far the worst.

So the MDC have boycotted the parliamentary cabinet in Zimbabwe in protest of the treatment of one if its key members of its own cabinet Roy Bennett who is currently on Police bail awaiting trial on charges of amassing arms of war.

The authorities in Zimbabwe have dropped its somewhat dubious and unsubstantiated claims that Roy Bennett was initially involved with an attempted assassination of Robert Mugabe by pouring oil on the road to Mutare. I mean who ever heard of assassinating a premier by oil when Mugabe travels in a hundred thousand pound armoured vehicle capable of protecting him from a rocket strike. This is a well known and common fact to all Zimbabweans who are familiar with the longest presidential protection procession of any leader in the world.

It is also a well known fact to anyone who has followed the legal situation in Zimbabwe that the charges that have been trumped up against Roy have failed to stand previously when the authorities tried to convict a local arms dealer on the exact same charges three years ago. After a year of repeated arrests, detention and scrambling around by the public prosecution a court date was finally set for the 13th October 2009, but on arrival at court, the police were forced to bail the public prosecutor out of a tight corner by re-arresting Roy on the pretext that the case should appear in the High Court due to its seriousness, when the reality is that even at this late stage the Public prosecutor does not have one single witness against him.

The truth in fact is that Bennett has always been a thorn in Zanu PF’s side. Senior officials who are responsible for calling for the harassment of the MDC politician fear that his appointment to cabinet will open the doors to official calls for those responsible for the destruction of his personal holding, the beating of his wife causing the loss of his unborn child and the confiscation of his business assets, all paid for in cash and approved by the government after independence in 1980, to be brought to justice.

Since the high court called for the permanent stay of the criminal proceedings against Justina Mukoko in September this year, the Zanu PF elite have been nervous as to what other trumped up charges brought against those that are deemed a threat to Zanu PF, will be turned out of court and dropped. If this were the case with Roy Bennett there would be nothing stopping his appointment to cabinet and that is something that Zanu PF cannot allow at this time.

And so MDC-T reaches a standoff with Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and has opted to boycott the cabinet in protest of this prolonged campaign of disruption against its elected officials. Personally I can understand their frustration, but in entering into any agreement with Mugabe, it was always destined to be an unequal yoke that bound the two together. There is no way that Mugabe intends to play by the rules, and it has been one uphill battle after another for anything to be achieved as laid out by the GPA.

I read a speech recently given by Arthur Mutambara, leader of the breakaway MDC-M who claims to be an equal member of the Inclusive Government, seeing himself as part of a threesome that works to bring prosperity to the nation. I had to smile to myself at how deluded Arthur must be if he really believes that he has won the bride on equal terms and now lies in bed as an equal with Morgan and Robert. While Arthur is clearly able to play both sides of the table as he leads the party that gives weight to any law that one or the other wishes to pass through parliament, he most certainly is not an equal, as Mugabe will merely brush him aside when he has fulfilled his usefulness. Both MDC parties really need to wake up to the reality that neither Mugabe nor his Zanu PF see the MDC as credible partner going forward.

Personally I have come to the conclusion that until Mugabe is removed from office there will never really be any change in Zimbabwe. Over the last three decades Mugabe has entrenched himself into a fixed place of power, where even a potentially credible threat to his establishment can easily be thwarted by skilful manipulation of his press, secret police, the army and the hierarchy of officials gathered close to the core of his government. It is a widely accepted fact that the ZBC and Herald newspaper are a propaganda machine for the Zanu PF, and it is only those that live outside of the country that get a true and viable reflection of the goings on within Zimbabwe through the international and external press agencies reporting from or about Zimbabwe.

The average Zimbabwean on the ground in Zimbabwe does not understand that sanctions are applied only against specific people within the Zanu PF leadership. They are told that the failure of their crops is due to lack of money due to illegal International Sanctions. When food aid is distributed, it is not done from the WHO or World Food Program, it is done of the back of military vehicles, with the message this is food from your leader to help you survive. No mention is made to the fact that it is infact from the very West that is meant to have caused the crops to fail in the first place.

How then are Morgan and Arthur meant to fight on equal terms while trying to win an election? When games of intimidation and electoral violence are played, even when away from the polling stations, how can any viable opposition party rally its supporter without fear of watching them being beaten and tormented for not supporting the national Zanu PF party?

It is disturbing that the GNU has hit the rocks less than a year from its inception but for any Zimbabwean watching from the side lines it is of no real surprise that we are at this situation. For many of us it is just the expected results of a period which Zanu PF saw as an opportunity to fool the world into granting aid deals to a government desperate to line its pockets.

It is worrying that the political situation could deteriorate further especially in view of the situation which prevailed before the formation of the inclusive government. The greatest concern is the destabilisation that may occur to efforts to recover the economy which the MDC had been undertaking. A total collapse of the GNU could provide Mugabe with all the ammunition he needs to never again agree to a power sharing agreement sitting the failure of the GNU for his dogmatic dictatorship of Zimbabwe.

There are genuine fears that the situation could slide back to desperation. The country had been gradually moving towards stimulating investor confidence but these latest developments will have a devastatingly negative effect on the so-much needed foreign investment. On the political front, a brutal reaction by Zanu PF hardliners cannot be ruled out. The arrest and re-detention of Roy Bennett could be regarded as a warning shot over the bows of the MDC. The Zanu PF is a brutal regime determined to cling to power under any circumstance at any cost necessary to achieve its goal.

Our nation stands on a precipice poised to either spiral into an abyss that all likelihood will spell yet more despair and frustration for the people of Zimbabwe under the evil dictatorship of this one party government lead by Robert Mugabe. The only alternative that remains is for any opposition to rid Zimbabwe of Mugabe and the Zanu PF regime. I can only foresee this happening with international support for regime change within Zimbabwe, and that is going to mean that any leadership really serious about changing the future of Zimbabwe will need to gain the approval of the SADAC member states and support of the West in their bid to remove Mugabe.

The real future of the GNU is uncertain that is for sure, but one thing is definite. You cannot boycott the agreement and expect to remain a respected member of the organisation. No one enjoys being forced into a corner, and Zanu PF will certainly not react well to MDC’s attempt to force them to meet their demands. The sad truth that I think the MDC will find moving forward is that this move has damaged their ability to be taken seriously, and while I fully understand their reasons for the boycott, you cannot be involved only when it suits you and expect to be a full player in the team. I have a horrible feeling in the depth of my stomach that this ploy can only backfire to the detriment and hopes of a nation of desperate Zimbabweans.

Attacks by a rebel group in Iran’s Sistan-Balochistan province that killed several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel add a new twist to developments in South Asia’s axis of unrest, and stand to impact international negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai left for a four-nation regional tour to consult with leaders on the crisis in the southern African country.

Tsvangirai will meet Mozambique president Armando Guebuza in Chimoio on Tuesday. Guebuza is the chairperson on SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.

The MDC leader will also travel to Angola, DRC and will meet SA president Jacob Zuma.

I must admit that I’m particularly happy about the decision that Tsvangirai and his MDC took to withdraw from communication with president Robert Mugabe’s party.

I often hear people talk about the unity government as a marriage but I beg to differ. In a marriage there is a husband and wife, and if we were to agree that the unity government is a marriage, who would be the husband, head of the family and who, would be the wife.

I think Zimbabwe’s unity government is more to do with two bachelors agreeing to start a business together. Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai share executive power and so cannot be classified as being in a marriage whether of convenience or genuine.

Mugabe has filled himself with the notion that he is the husband, the bully in the construed marriage that is why he behaves like an angry papa.

Tsvangirai to an extent is behaving like jilted lover, or a wife being subjected to brutal domestic violence, and always running to NGOs (SADC) for protection.

I think Tsvangirai must stand up to Mugabe in his face and tell him once and for all, that he is destroying the nation.