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March 02, 2008
16:58
Discussion about the current Stuation in Kenya in Berlin, Germany by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
From: Eyes on Kenya

Read This Entry & More At Eyes on Kenya

On 4th of march 2008 Rosa Luxemburg foundation, a political foundation of the German Party “the Linke” holds a discussion about the political situation in Kenya. Speakers are the German swing musician Andrej Hermlin, who was arrested in Kenya in Janurary 2008, Dr. Claus Dieter König and Member of the German parliament for the Linke- Hüseyin Aydin. It will take place at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, at Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, Seminar room 3 (1. floor), close to the Train station “Ostbahnhof” at 18:00. The discussion will be held in German. For further information contact Jörg Schultz (schultz[at]rosalux.de).

Rosa Luxemburg: “Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters”

And here is the invitation text in German:

Kenia: Musterland am Abgrund?

Informationsveranstaltung zur aktuellen Lage, den Konfliktursachen und Auswegen aus der Krise

Es diskutieren:

♦ Hüseyin Aydin, MdB

Obmann im Ausschuss für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, zuständig für Afrikapolitik in der Fraktion DIE LINKE.

♦ Andrej Hermlin

Musiker

♦ Dr. Claus-Dieter König

Politikwissenschaftler

Moderation: Jörg Schultz, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

Dienstag, 4. März

18.00 Uhr – 20.30 Uhr

Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

Seminarraum 3 (1. Etage),

Franz-Mehring-Platz 1,

10 243 Berlin

S-Bahn: Ostbahnhof

Eintritt frei

Kenia: Musterland am Abgrund?

Hintergründe zur aktuellen Lage, zu Konfliktursachen und Auswegen aus der Krise Kenia steckt in der schwersten politischen Krise seit Jahrzehnten. Seit den umstrittenen Präsidentschaftswahlen im Dezember befinden sich Teile des Landes in bürgerkriegsähnlichem Zustand. Proteste gegen die Wahlfälschungen des Amtsinhabers Mwai Kibaki eskalierten zu heftigen ethnisch instrumentalisierten Ausschreitungen militanter Anhänger Kibakis und des Herausforderers Raila Odinga. Trotz hoher Opferzahlen und ernsten ökonomischen Folgen stehen sich die Kandidaten bislang unversöhnlich gegenüber. Seit Anfang Februar verhandelt eine UNO-Delegation mit den Parteien über eine Machtteilung. Ob der Konflikt damit beigelegt werden kann, ist noch offen.

♦ Raila Odinga warb vor der Wahl mit einem politischen Neuanfang, doch sein Profil bleibt unklar. Wofür stehen Odinga und sein Bündnis ODM?

♦ Wo liegen die Gründe für die anhaltende politische Bedeutung von Ethnizität? Welche Kräfte können der Ethnisierung entgegen wirken?

♦ Kenia galt bisher als „Stabilitätsanker“ Ostafrikas. Was bedeutet eine anhaltende Instabilität Kenias für die Region? Welche Möglichkeiten haben externe Akteure, um eine Konfliktregelung zu unterstützen?

Kontakt und Informationen:

Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung: Jörg Schultz, schultz[at]rosalux.de,

(030) 44 31 01 54

MdB-Büro Hüseyin Aydin: Björn Aust,

hueseyin.aydin.lt[at]bundestag.de,

(030) 22 77 34 94

16:23
Random Speak
From: More to Life

Read This Entry & More At More to Life
Since I know you've all been up all weekend wondering what I did with my Thursday evening, lemme tell y'all what I did with it. I took myself and my curiosity to the Fort Worth Convention center and listened to (the) Barack Obama live! I decided to become part of history and I am glad I did. Forget that it took 40 minutes to find a parking spot despite arriving 15 min before the center opened which was 2 hours before the man himself was scheduled to address the crowds. It was all worth it. So many people from all walks of life. I mean Indians (whom I had to acknowledge are underrepresented given their huge numbers as I saw them), blacks (so many! I hope they will remain this interested in their lives after this), Hispanics (plenty of them in the fort worth neighborhood) and whites. Many people seemed to have arrived directly from work. Others had closed businesses early and others simply took the day off to get there early enough to get good seats.

Kudos to the staff at the convention center. The queues, many as they were and longer than they were many moved really quickly. Security was tight just like at the airport and people were many. As soon as I got in, I knew I would have to use my imagination to get close enough to witness this as I wanted to. And details spared, I did. Wrong side though, he came and left from the opposite side. But I saw him clearly and close enough as he spoke.

He wore the demeanor of a winner, the attitude of a simple man, and the intelligence of a leader. It was like an epiphany. I understood why he was where he is at with his life. The speech was in many ways repetitive for anyone who has been listening to his every word via barackobama.com as well as CNN and anywhere else they'll air it. The same theme, the same statements, even the same punchlines here and there. But it would get very simply personalized for the immediate crowd. And I understood why the message was the same everywhere.Simply because the message is one and the same throughout. And most of those at the rally are not like me, haven't been looking for Obama news everywhere. They are hearing a lot of these things for the first time. hence the need for rallies. Frankly, people like me are just taking up space since we know we are supporters.

Entertaining moment when he breaks with the "has someone fainted... EMT... water..." line that CNN had been making fun of his super stardom with clips of such moments during his rallies. It's simple why they faint. They stand for 2 hours while waiting for him to arrive, not including the time during which he is talking and their queue times. It is wise to choose to sit at these moments. Even more interesting, as he points in that one direction, lady behind me and about 3 people to my right, despite being sitted needs an EMT as she is about to pass out. That is about the sheer excitement going on. People were all abuzz, excited, just completely ready to vote for him. I talked to a few people, all different age groups.

This older white man said to me that its been too long since Barack came along. Everything is wrong at Washington and Barack just has to be the next president. OK. Black middle age lady. She told me that this moment was the reason she worked 2-3 jobs to take her kids through college. She told them they could be anything and this man (Barack) was evidence to her she had been right about that all along. That I thought was very interesting and personal. basically, barack chose right with the message of change. He represents it and all his supporters are craving change one way or the other. Hence his success. That was helpful to me. I've been a little fuddled about how he was successfully able to kick Mrs. Clinton out of her assumed nominee role. I get it now.

There's still a whole lot to do in TX to get him the victory here. And as I left, I talked to volunteers and understood what they had planned for this weekend. They have been busy and were actually recruiting volunteers for between then and Tuesday right there as people left. I hope they will reap handsomely come Tuesday.

Odinga and Kibaki, about time they grew up. Now can someone please define the roles of all these new positions and explain to me how Kenya is going to finance these salaries which will be hefty and can we be told what these salaries will be. Anyone who reads this blog knows I think that Kenya needs no addition to it tax payer burden within the governing circle. What it needs is better job descriptions and effective management. But for the sake of peace, this might be a small price to pay. I just wanna know how small. However, what I really want to say about that is I'm glad we're past that and can these two parties save us any further drama and start rebuilding the devastation they have caused in terms of jobs and country pride.

Next on my agenda? Tuesday. Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Rhode Island and Ohio right now per the polls, not pleasing me. They better intend to surprise the hell out of me come Tuesday. Keeping my fingers crossed!

13:09
Half Priced America On Sale
From: For Love and Money

Read This Entry & More At For Love and Money
Half Priced America On Sale

11:16
Honest Reflection + Reconciliation = Price of Reconstruction
From: You Missed This

Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
With the political deal signed on paper, Kenya enters a defining week that will lay the first foundation for a firm rediscovery or mere patching of the rot underneath. It has taken enormous bloodshed to make us reason and unless we learn our lessons correctly and fast enough, we are prone to repeat the same mistakes with devastating consequences.

Kenya has never known any true leadership in her 45 years existence as an independent nation. All we have had so far are rulers weaned on imperial ideologies of the colonialists who scheme to ascend to power to entrench the same divisive and oppressive practices. Since independence we have wasted the opportunity to define ourselves as a country. We have been mere passengers in the grave train Kenya as a geographical accident.

Kenyan needs an urgent reality check NOW. We have the best chance to build a sustainable foundation that appreciates each Kenyan outside ethnic parameters. We can deny it all the much we wish but the brutal truth is that negative ethnicity is the malignant cancer gnawing at the Kenyan fabric. Bandying lofty slogans to gloss over this malady only succeeds in painting us for what we are: PRACTITIONERS of DECEPTION per excellence.

Costly false pride
The paper signed by both Raila and Kibaki wont make neighbours in the Rift Valley hug after going for each others throat and burning homes. We must start from the basics and banish the evil ideology of berating others derogatorily simply because we don’t share mother tongue. We must shun utterances that inflame emotions which our politicians will readily exploit to advance their selfish interests.

There is no pride in having so many enemies. One more foe is just one too many. We need each Kenyan in this endeavour to reclaim and develop our country. Nothing short of honest engagement will do here. Cooperation premised on deception is to live an expensive lie that will consume all of us sooner rather than later.

Humility is only a weakness to the short-sighted who shoot epithets from both lips oblivious of the consequences. Kenyans must humble themselves and with utmost HONESTY collectively and constructively involve themselves in whatever little way they can towards realizing a truly united and prosperous country. It is too costly to wait.

False pride couched in any shade of superiority complex or bravado has no place in this overdue exercise. Start doing your part NOW. So let the willing souls soil their hand and let the healing process begin.

9:10
Crowdsourcing Ushahidi’s Further Development (we need your help)
From: White African

Tags: Web Stuff
Read This Entry & More At White African
We’ve entered Ushahidi (background story here) into the $100,000 Netsquared Mashup Challenge for further development. We’re really excited about this opportunity for a number of reasons.
Here’s their explanation of the challenge:

This year’s NetSquared Conference will bring together a unique mix of people from the public and private sectors to develop and release Mashups designed to provide deeper insight into the social issues affecting communities around the globe.

Those “people” are you — members of the NetSquared universe working on behalf of communities everywhere and the technical experts who care about these issues.

If we’re successful, we’ll learn something about cross-sector collaboration, meet new and interesting people, and build a unique gallery of Mashups that citizens, schools, and community-based groups everywhere can learn from, replicate, and build upon.

So, there you have it. Head on over to Netsquared, register and vote. I know it’s a hassle to have to register before you vote, but we would greatly appreciate it if you did. Better yet, if you’re interested in helping to extend Ushahidi even further, let us know!

Let’s see if we can make a global product out of an African initiated project…

[update: I’ve had a couple emails and messages asking where to vote. Once you’re logged in, you should see the following. Just click the + sign.]

7:04
The spirit of Nyerere
From: Black Looks

Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
I had the privilege of meeting Rosemary Nyerere on Friday night as part of the Haiti Solidarity Day. Crossroads Women’s Center held a reception for Rosemary who is a beautiful gentle woman with a great inner strength and wisdom. She was on her way with Selma James (widow of CLR James and a [...]

4:22
Kenya: histories of hidden war
From: Kenya Imagine

Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine

The systemic realities of political violence in Kenya need to be dissected if the post-election crisis is to be understood, says Gérard Prunier.
Read more here.

Read the complete article at

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Feeds

Discussion about the current Stuation in Kenya in Berlin, Germany by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

Random Speak

Half Priced America On Sale

Honest Reflection + Reconciliation = Price of Reconstruction

Crowdsourcing Ushahidi’s Further Development (we need your help)

Tags: Web Stuff

The spirit of Nyerere

Kenya: histories of hidden war