African Liberation is not a done deal (Beyond Mandela, part deux)
By Lahai J Samboma
Like most “normal” people, I like a good laugh. And, as luck would have it, I had an exceptionally good one today, both during and after reading a think piece in a leading London “liberal left” daily. And then, I cried. And laughed some more, in the process almost choking on my food.
The article, “Beyond Mandela” was published in the Guardian and written by a “bro” by the name of Onyekachi Wambu. I do not believe the writer is a comedian, nor that his intention, as he put fingers to keyboard, was to be a source of mirth or stimulant to the left lacrimal gland of yours truly.
Shorn of all its accoutrements, and the red herrings about development and dignity for Africa and Africans, Mr Wambu’s thesis is simply this: post-Mandela, African and black liberation has been won and what is needed now on the continent are what he calls “leaders of development”.
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in Political Economy
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On journeys and being back
By Lahai J Samboma
Some journeys are worthwhile. They make us more well-rounded human subjects and objects, enriching us with experiences that inform the multilayered, multifaceted beings we are becoming every second and every minute of each passing day.
The decision to embark on them may or may not have been ours in the first place - and their impact on our lives could be devastating and not amenable to the good ol' trick of getting-up-and-dusting-ourselves. But it could nevertheless be argued that such journeys are worthwhile.
Misinformation, the media and the foiled terror plot
By Lahai J Samboma
Soon after the alleged terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights last week, one of the first things that became apparent was that the so-called independent media were being far from independent in their reporting of this alleged plot foiled by the British police and security services, for long plagued by accusations of being inept and trigger-happy.
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in US-UK Politics
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Ceasefire or trojan horse?
By Mike Whitney
Israel’s sudden push to the Litani River is a blatant act of political desperation intended to conceal the humiliating defeat the IDF has suffered at the hands of Hezbollah. It comes in the wake of a UN ceasefire agreement worked out by friends of Israel in the Bush administration who were looking for a diplomatic way for Olmert to climb down from Israel’s greatest debacle since the Yom Kippur war.
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in Middle East
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'War on terror' is last birth pang of American fascism
By Lahai J Samboma This was rich, coming as it did from the 21st Century’s greatest fascist leader and the single most potent threat to international peace and security. During the course of his short speech, which our hero delivered on an airport tarmac, he did his handlers and speechwriters proud. Not only did he not read from a script - at least not one that we could see - he also remembered to repeat the all-important buzz-words and phrases: “…those of us who love freedom and democracy…freedom …democracy” - you name it, it was there!
It is possible that the idea for the present article may have been lurking somewhere in my subconscious for some time, but the decision to finally write it came suddenly after hearing Bush’s claim on television today that the foiling of an alleged plot to blow up several US-bound aircraft was definitive proof that “we” were in a war against “Islamic fascists”.
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in Political Economy
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Terrorism threat to West won’t end soon
By Lahai J Samboma
According to this morning’s newscasters, the British police and security services have foiled a “major plot” by “Islamic fundamentalists” to blow-up trans-Atlantic flights using devices hidden in hand luggage. As a consequence, all passengers on such flights will not be allowed hand luggage on board aircraft with immediate effect until further notice.
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in Terrorism
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Lebanon war, Palestinian Question have one indivisible solution
By Lahai J Samboma Yet this is the canard we are being sold by Bush-Blair, as they insist that “sustainable peace” in the Middle East presupposes the positioning an international force between the Hizbolla and the Zionist state. This should come as no surprise; what is indeed mystifying is that many who should know better have swallowed this odious farrago - hook, line and sinker.
Station a “stabilisation force” in a south Lebanon “buffer zone“, disarm the Hizbolla resistance and, hey presto!, we have “lasting peace” in the Middle East. This is such a gross insult to our intelligence that even the producers of Pinky and the Brain - the cartoon characters bent on world domination - would baulk at even considering it a worthy plotline for their farcical characters.
Lebanon must resist Zionists and neocons
By Lahai J Samboma And, as if on cue, the blathering birdbrain of a son-of-a-Bush was on our screens again today, talking of a “sustainable peace” and a “lasting ceasefire”, obviously oblivious to the fact that innocent children, women and men were being massacred even as he and his Wicked Witch Rice are playing realpolitik with the life of a whole nation.
The blatant blackmail of the Lebanese people into accepting what Blair - Bush’s rear-end appendage - euphemistically calls a “stabilisation force”, has plunged the contemporary world into a new low, the likes of which would be very difficult, if not impossible, to match in recent history - despite the claim by apologists of Zionist war crimes that such a force is the only way to broker what they call a lasting peace in the MidEast.
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in Middle East
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Unfreedom: 1984 in Bush-Blair-land
By Lahai J Samboma
As I watch the television news, read the various press and contemplate bloody, barbaric death and destruction unfolding seemingly unstoppably in the Zionist-imperialist battlefield that Lebanon and Palestine have become, the words of two of the 20th Century’s great wordsmiths come to mind: those of Robert Nesta Marley, aka Bob; and Eric Blair, more popularly known as George Orwell.
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in Comment
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"Peace plan" is Zionist/Neocon plot
By Lahai J Samboma
The hubris of the woman was a must-see. There she was, addressing the cheap harlots of the assembled media, new war criminal Olmert by her side. Those with any doubts concerning America’s complicity in the ongoing Middle East turkey shoot got their rude awakening. “We want a different kind of Middle East,” Dr Condi said. “We will prevail. They will not.”
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in Middle East
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