Les Sans-Papiers de Mayotte

Ceci est une triste video montrant les conditions de detention d'immigres en France, le "pays des droits de l'Homme". Cela ressemblerait a une prison dans un pays "pauvre".

Selon un article publie par RFI, la France a ete interpelle par Amnesty International qui a denonce les "conditions indignes et inhumaines" dans lesquelles ces immigres vivent. Selon le meme article le centre de Pamandzi a Mayotte dispose de 60 places, mais 16,000 sans papiers ont ete expulses de la cette annee... 16,000! Wow...

Centre de rétention de Mayotte: la vidéo qui accuse
Uploaded by liberation

My favorite documentaries and movies about Africa (so far)

Great Movies and Documentaries I have seen:

- Cry Freedom: Played brilliantly by Denzel Washington. The movie is about Steve Biko, the South African anti-apartheid leader. (True Story)

- Hotel Rwanda: Don Cheadle plays the role of Paul Rusesabagina during the genocide in Rwanda. (True Story)

- Amistad: An all star cast film with Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey, and Djimon Hounsou. Slavery is the subject of the movie. (Based on a true story)

- Tears of the Sun: with Bruce Willis. The plot is around an ethnic cleansing in Nigeria.

- Out of Africa: played magnificently by Robert Redford. It's a love story with beautiful images of Africa's countryside.

- Black Gold: A documentary telling the story of Ethiopian coffee farmers and their struggle in the international market against giants like Starbucks.

The one I would love to see:

- The Empire in Africa: a documentary about the Sierra Leone war
- Africa Blood and Guts: Colonialism in Africa
- Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death
- Wonders of the African World

Ayemi Lawani

Africa Rising?!

Some weeks ago, I was writing about the various summits countries such as France, China, Turkey, India, Japan were organizing with Africa. I was then wondering why this increased interest in Africa.(Refer to my previous post "Another Africa-'One Country' Summit")
I found this interesting video on Youtube which might contain some answers. Let me share it with you.
Africa Rising By Vijay Mahajan



Ayemi Lawani

Et un de plus!!

Apres le Cameroun cette annee, c'est le tour de l'Algerie de modifier la constitution pour permettre au president de se representer indefiniment. Pendant ce temps la crise social continue en Algerie...
J'ai perdu le compte des pays (ou mieux des royaumes?) africains ou il n'existe plus de limitation en termes de nombre de mandats.

(Photo, courtesy of Algerie-Politique)

What is happening in DRC?

Here we go again!

A new war erupted in Congo when everyone started to forget the wars that followed the downfall of Mobutu. Or, is it really a new war? Laurent Nkunda the forgotten rebel has found a new strength and is threatening President Kabila's power. The DRC seems to be doomed by its mineral wealth. Since his election in 2006, the 37 y.o. president did not do much to assure his authority over one of the largest and richest nations in Africa.

Between:
- the foreign interests fighting for the congolese resources
- the president whose authority seems to be limited to the capitale Kinshasa
- the corruption
- the foreign nations (like Rwanda) supporting the rebels
- the UN spending billions on a peace keeping force tarnished by corruption and scandales
- and the West, which, like in Rwanda, Somalia, and Sudan, is playing blind
the DRC's people don't own their destiny. With more than 5 millions people killed, this never ending war is the deadliest since WWII.
If you want to know more...how it started, who is involved..., here is an interesting article:

How We Fuel Africa’s Bloodiest War

A.L.

What to make of it??

Rose Kabuye, the Rwandan Director of State Protocol, was arrested last Sunday in Germany. She is accused by the french justice, as many other Rwandan authorities, of complicity in the assassination of Habyarimana, the ex-president of Rwanda killed just before the genocide started.

What to make of it?

Well, on the one side, that's good news. For, if she is guilty she must face justice. If she is not, justice shall prevail and she will get to go home. Same for many other people all over the world, especially in Africa. There are many people in Africa right now who committed torture, killed thousands
of their people, stole their countries' money... "et j'en passe". They should be anxious and know that there will be a payback day... wherever they go. So, I am happy.

What's the other side then??

Well, on the other side the international justice seems to be a one way road. So far I have only seen "bad guys" from developing nations arrested in developed nations, not the other way around. Nobody seems to really care when a "poor" nation asks for the extradition of a "bad guy" from a "rich" nation (refer to Equatorial Guinea's case). Even when "bad guys" from 'rich' countries are convicted in 'poor' nations, they somehow manage to be jailed back in their countries or simply be released (Refer to Chad's example).
And so, I am sad.

(Photo source: AFP)

20 ans apres....

20 ans apres l'assassinat de Thomas Sankara, l'un des acteurs du coup temoigne. Le plus frustrant n'est pas le temoignage de Prince Johnson, mais le fait qu'il pointe le doigt sur Blaise Compaore, l'actuel president du Burkina, qui a toujours dementi toute participation dans la tuerie de son meilleur ami.
Plus frustrant et decevant encore est la pretendu complicite de Felix Houphouet-Boigny.

Mais en fait rien de surprenant, Prince Johnson ne fait que confirmer tout haut ce que tout le monde soupconnait tout bas...

Ecouter et lire l'interview de Prince Johnson sur RFI.FR :

Prince Johnson : C'est Compaoré qui a fait tuer Sankara, avec l'aval d'Houphouët-Boigny

A.L.

Inspirational Songs

Here is a list of inspirational songs I put together for the "down times".

For everyone of us, there are these times when even the strongest feel beat up, times when we lose our energy, we feel as if we cannot keep going.

These are times when you feel as if the whole world is against you; these are setback times. I talked to you recently and you told me how difficult life is.

For you, for me, and everyone else, I put together these songs. Not to change your destiny, but to tell you that you destiny is in your hand. God gave you talents, it is up to you to use them.

I hope these songs inspire you. Listen to the songs and read the lyrics.
"Keep your head high", "it's is a beautiful day", "don't let this cold world bring you down," your life is "unwritten."

Let us know if there is a song which is not listed here and that inspires you...

a.l.

Kiva.org

Kiva is a nonprofit organization specialized in microfinance.

"Kiva enables a world where people separated by long distances can connect through lending for the purpose of alleviating poverty, while also promoting strong, persistent interpersonal connections that improve cross-cultural understanding. Kiva’s unique model provides debt to mid- and small-sized Microfinance Institutions, offering the chance to extend coverage to new populations outside the reach of larger institutions. In its first three years, over 148,000 internet lenders made $22 million in loans to 33,000 entrepreneurs in 40 developing countries. Kiva aims to scale to one million internet lenders and over $100 million in loans by 2010. Kiva is headquartered in San Francisco, CA."(PALO ALTO, Calif.—March 11, 2008).

Kiva connects lenders to borrowers allowing the first to lend as little as $25 to the second. Once the money is repaid, lenders can re-lend their money, donate it to Kiva, or withdraw their funds. Check what various news channels have said about Kiva by clicking here.

Qu’attend la France pour s’excuser des crimes commis pendant la colonisation ?

"Qu’attend la France pour s’excuser des crimes commis pendant la colonisation" ?

C'est le titre d'un article de Franck Salin paru sur Afrik.com le 3 Septembre.
Dans l'article l'auteur evoque l'example de l'Italie qui le weekend dernier a reconnu ses torts et abus durant la colonisation en Libye. Berlusconi s'est meme engage a dedommager financierement la Libye.

Salin cite Sarkozy qui a declare, aucours d'une visite en Algerie en Dec. 2007, qu'il fallait se « tourner d’abord vers l’avenir, car les nouvelles générations, qui forment dans votre pays la grande majorité de la population, ne vont pas attendre que les adultes aient fini de régler les problèmes du passé. »

Selon Salin, ce refus de la France de s'excuser serait du a l'orgueil d'"une grande nation [qui] ne s'excuse pas" ou a un calcul electoral de Sarkozy.

Personnellement, je suis d'accord avec Sarkozy qu'il faut "se tourner vers l'avenir." Mais, le President francais ne doit pas oublier que pour vraiment embrasser l'avenir il faut d'abord soigner les plaies laissees par le passe.

Des excuses de la part de la France, ou de tout autre colonisateur, ne changeront surement pas les atrocites commises durant la colonisation. Mais elles pourront au moins marquer un nouveau depart. Un depart ou le colonisateur d'avant reconnaitrait ses torts et accepterait de traiter l'ex colonise en egal. Sarkozy, "les problemes du passe" sont les problemes de nos peres et grand peres. Et nous en portons encore le fardeau. "PARDONNER" est certainement different d' "OUBLIER." Et nous ne pouvons oublier.

Si l'Allemagne a accepte de dedommager les FRANCAIS victimes de travaux forces pendant la 2eme GM (http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3491133,00.html), pourquoi la France ne dedommagerait-elle pas tous ceux qui ont subit les travaux forces durant la colonisation?

Toutefois, loin de totalement feliciter Berlusconi pour son acte, gardons en esprit que le leader Italien est un fin homme d'affaire. Mis a part son petrole, la Libye offre beaucoup d'autres marches et opportunites qui depassent largement les milliards verses par Berlusconi. Pas etonnant que Condoleezza Rice ait decide de s'y rendre aussi avant la fin de l'annee...

La Libye reste une dictature, mais une dictature sur laquelle les "developpes" ferment desormais les yeux. Mais ceci est une autre histoire...

al

PS:)
Voici le link de l'article de Franck Salin
(Qu’attend la France pour s’excuser des crimes commis pendant la colonisation ?

Et, je recommande ce bon livre sur les atrocites commises par les Belges en Afrique Centrale:

"King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa" ecrit par Adam Hochschild.

Which one?

I heard two things in my life.

The first one, from Marquis de Vauvenargues, says: "To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die."

Then the second, I am not really sure who is the original author, says: "Live your life like you were dying." I interpret it as: love your love ones as if it was your last day, enjoy life today because you don't know tomorrow...and so on.

I originally thought the first was great. Then, when I heard about the second, I said, no the second was great.

But, I think I know now.

I think, in order to achieve great things, we must live as though we were never going to die; and, enjoy life, love people and tell them we love them as if we were dying.

Any thought...

al

A Beautiful Song, A Great Singer, An Awesome Choir

Just wanted to share this song with all my friends...to let you know that "you raise me up" everyday and always.

Book Review: "The White Man's Burden"

"The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good"

By William Easterly
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 27, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143038826
ISBN-13: 978-0143038825

For Decades, the West (the U.S. and western Europe) has invested billions of dollars in helping the Rest (poor nations in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia). Even though there have been progresses in eradicating diseases and improving lives, people in the Rest still live with less than a dollar a day and still die from easily treated diseases. Jeffrey Sachs is one of the leading figures advocating for a “Big Push” in all areas in order to end poverty. In his 2003’s book “The End of Poverty”, he calls for a Big Push at the global level to end poverty in the world. William Easterly’s “The White man’s Burden” can be considered a reply to Sachs' "The End of Poverty."

Basically, Easterly argues in this book that the West has always felt that it is its duty and mission to “save the Rest.” Going back as far as the 1800s, Easterly compares the vision and writing of authors like Rudyard Kipling to speeches and books written by Gordon Brown, Jeffrey Sachs, or …Bono. For Easterly, “nothing new under the sun.” After the Second World War, “Verbiage about racial superiority, the tutelage of backward peoples, and people not ready to rule themselves went into the wastebasket… ‘Uncivilized’ became ‘underdeveloped’, ‘savage peoples’ became the ‘third world’.” The author argues that there has not been a real change in the way the West has always patronized the Rest. In order to support his argument he analyzes “foreign aid” institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, the USAID, the DFID, the IDB, the AFDB, UNICEF, FAO, UNDP, ILO, etc.

Throughout his book, Easterly makes a distinction between “planners” and “searchers.” As he says, Utopian Planners make great speeches promising great things such as “the end of poverty”, while pragmatic Searchers look for piecemeal solutions. Planners “announce good intentions but don’t motivate anyone to carry them out; Searchers find things that work and get some reward.” Planners don’t take responsibility for their actions. “Planners determine what to supply; Searchers find out what is in demand.” “Planners apply global blueprints; Searchers adapt to local conditions.” “A Planner thinks he already knows the answers; he thinks of poverty as a technical engineering problem that his answers will solve. A searcher admits he doesn’t know the answers in advance; he believes that poverty is a complicated tangle of political, social, historical, institutional, and technological factors. A searcher hopes to find answers to individual problems only by trial and error experimentation. A Planner believes outsiders know enough to impose solutions. A Searcher believes only insiders have enough knowledge to find solutions, and that most solutions must be homegrown.”

Planners plan from the top, while Searchers work with people at the bottom. Easterly argues that Planners control the foreign aid area: people at the top who think they know what the poor need. Institutions such as the World Bank or the IMF decide everything in Washington and apply their plans across the board without regards to local characteristics and indigenous aspirations.

“Almost three billion people live on less than two dollars a day…Eight hundred and forty million people in the world don’t have enough to eat. Ten million children die every year from easily preventable diseases. AIDS is killing three million people a year….” For decades Planners have developed “Big Plans” to end poverty. Why isn’t it working? Billions of dollars are poured every year in foreign aid, but the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing. The problem for Easterly is the lack of accountability and the lack of feedback. Big institutions are not accountable for their failures, and they don’t listen to the poor who is their customer. The author argues that in the private sector when you offer a service or a product and the customer is not satisfied you change your business scheme or your company dies. You are accountable to your customer, and you listen to your customer. That’s not the case in the foreign aid sector.

Exploring the philosophical background of Social Change, William Easterly suggests that the West always chooses the “utopian social engineering” scheme over the piecemeal approach. According to Easterly, “Structural Adjustment Plans” in Africa and post-communist Eastern Europe were Utopia and disasters. Plans developed in Washington were applied in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe without regards to local particularities. Easterly says he is not against foreign aid in Africa. In fact, he supports foreign aid when it does not patronize poor nations, it takes into account their aspirations, it does not try to craft other cultures on the image of the West, and it is accountable for its successes and failures.

What I found so great about this book is how the author went into great detail to support his argument. With an in-depth and overwhelming statistical analysis, Easterly demonstrated that foreign aid, in its current form, does not have any positive effect on economical growth, democracy, and good government. Using data from 1950 to 2001 he illustrated that poor nations with little or no aid had no trouble having positive growth. Instead, Easterly says, “aid financed consumption rather than investment.” Almost all the input used in the foreign aid, from the material to technicians, comes from donor countries. This, of course, increases the recipients’ dependency on foreign help. For example, “In Eastern Europe, chiefs recipients of foreign aid were the Big Six accounting firms in the West, who drafted new laws for Eastern Europe and trained thousands of locals in Western laws.”

Easterly argues that there are many historical examples of how the West messed up the Rest: the Middle East conflicts, India, Sudan, Nicaragua, Angola (Savimbi), DRC (Mobutu), Haiti, Rwanda.

The future, as Easterly argues, is in “homegrown development.” The author uses history and statistical evidences to demonstrate that nations that had never been colonized by the West, or that had been colonized for a short period of time, have historically succeeded more than the ones that had been colonized or had received heavy IMF and World Bank programs. He uses such examples as China, Japan, Singapore, and Botswana to illustrate that homegrown development is better than Big Plans coming from outside. Easterly suggests to use “a marketplace instead of central planning, a kind of eBay meets foreign aid.” He advocates for social entrepreneurship, decentralization of foreign aid, independent program evaluation and monitoring systems, aid vouchers, feedback from the poor, and piecemeal programs instead of Big Plans.

He says “Big Push”, “Big Plans”, and global blueprints to “end poverty” (advocated by Jeffrey Sachs, Bono, Gordon Brow, the G8, and many others) have never worked for the various reasons he lists in his book; and, they will never work. For Easterly, “The right plan is to have no plan.” The solution is “not to abandon aid to the poor, but to make sure it reaches them.” He concludes by saying that the West should stop thinking that they are the “saviors of the Rest.” The West should stop making Big plans to end poverty and start assisting the Rest on small, concrete, and piecemeal basis.

William Easterly teaches economics at New York University and is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. He worked as senior research economist at the World Bank for over sixteen years. He also worked in many countries in Africa, Latin America, and Russia.

I highly recommend this book. It confirmed with scientific evidences what I have always suspected: only homegrown development works. You don’t need to be interested in international development to read this book and maybe…to love it!

Another Africa-"one country" summit

Leaders of 50 nations in Africa meet this week in Turkey for a Turkey-Africa summit.
There have been a recent increase in the number of summits of this kind: France-Africa, China-Africa, Japan-Africa, India-Africa... and now Turkey-Africa.
I really don't know what to make of it. Summits such as Africa-EU, Africa-America seem normal. Summits between groups of developing nations such as Africa-South America summit are even better. But the whole Africa meeting with Turkey...I don't know.
Is this a good sign? Meaning leaders in Africa are looking for new and diversified partnerships?
Or do all these summits, one after another, with many promises done, do these summits just illustrate that, as usual, African leaders are looking for outsiders to come and "save" their continent?

Why so much attention to Africa lately? That's the question...
I hope the political and economical leadership in Africa is asking the same question and is planning to capitalize on that.

al

Pourquoi Mugabe beneficie-t-il encore d'un certain soutien Africain

Apres une crise economique qui ne fait que s'accentuer, une election marquee d'irregularites, et des abus de droit de l'homme, les Zimbabweens esperent aujourd'hui que les pourparlers en cours entre le MDC de Tsvangirai et le Zanu-PF de Mugabe portent des fruit et mettent fin a cette crise. Cependant, selon les dernieres nouvelles, les discussions pietinent toujours en ce qui concerne le partage du pouvoir. Pendant ce temps, c'est la Zimbabweenne moyenne qui souffre.

La question que je me pose aujourd'hui est pourquoi Mugabe beneficie-t-il toujours d'un soutien relatif de la part des Africains. Malgre tout ce que son peuple a endure, beaucoup d'Africain politiciens ou simple citoyens ne sont pas enclin a vigouresement condamner celui qui semble en etre l'auteur. Malgre tous les articles de journaux europeens, les reportages televises, et les declarations d'hommes et de femmes d'etats europeens et americains, l'Afrique reste divisee quant a la position qu'il faut prendre face a Mugabe. Pourquoi?
Je me suis pose la question et en suis arrive a un certain nombre de conclusions:

- "How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you don't see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you'll see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Luke 6:42. C'est en substance ce que Mugabe a dit au chefs d'etats Africains avant de claquer la porte durant le dernier sommet de l'UA
La plupart des presidents Africains n'ont pas ete bien elus non plus. Pas etonnant que Omar Bongo soit l'un des premiers a reconnaitre et a feliciter Mugabe.

- "Double Standard": Certains se demandent pourquoi est ce que les pays dit "developed" appliquent -ils differents standards a differents pays. Pourquoi certains presidents africains mal elus et corrompus beneficient-ils du soutien ou d'un silence complice alors que d'autres sont denonces des la premieres opportunite? Pourquoi juger un leader a partir de sa collaboration avec certaines puissances, et non a partir de ce qu'il fait pour son peuple?

- L'Histoire: Certains ont pardonne mais ils n'ont pas oublie. Beaucoup se rappellent encore les exactions commisent par la minorite blanche au Zimbabwe, Kenya, et Afrique du Sud. Pendant que les Africains se sont fait arracher leurs terres, pendant qu'ils ont ete mis en travaux force, pendant l'apartheid, beaucoup ont ferme les yeux. Mugabe reste pour beaucoup le symbole d'une lutte. Ce qui explique a mon avis la reticence de Mbeki a le condamner.

Aujourd'hui il est clair que si Mugabe n'a pas le soutien de son peuple, il doit alors quitter le pouvoir. Mais avant de le juger et de le condamner, l'on doit analyser la situation dans le cadre historique du Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai, vu les resultats du premier tour, a probablement le droit de reclamer le pouvoir. Mais l'on doit etre prudent afin de ne pas le prendre pour un sauveur et un saint. L'histoire de Kibaki au Kenya en est une preuve...

al

Guess What!! Togo just won first ever medal in Olympic Games!

Check this out, Togo just won its first ever Olympic medal. And guess in which sport...
Not soccer
Not boxing
but...
men's single Kayak slalom. Yep!
It's a bronze. But still, I am proud. You think it is not worth mentioning? Well, I think it is a good start that needed to be mentioned.
Believe me, there are many countries out there that are still "medalless".
Here is the link to the BBC News articles on it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7556266.stm

al

Togo-Economie

Pour ceux qui sont interesses par l'economie et la politique Togolaise, je recommende cet article de Frederic Lejeal sur l'economie Togolaise: "Embellie sur les investissements." L'article fait parti d'un dossier sur le Togo publie par Jeune Afrique. Entre autre information l'on peu apprendre que la dette exterieure du Togo est de 1.7 milliard de dollars, et l'evolution du PIB de 2000 a 2006 est en moyenne de 2.4%. L'auteur evoque egalement la reprise de la cooperation avec les institutions de Bretton Woods et l'Union Europeenne. (http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN13078embelstneme0)

al

Chinafrique...again!

One of my previous blogs was about China's new efforts in Africa. I found this interesting article by Francois Soudan in the July's Jeune Afrique (follow link: http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN13078legraeuqirf0).
Sorry, the article is in French.
Francois Soudan concludes his article by citing Chris Alden (China in Africa, Zed Books, Londres-New York, 2007): "C’est en définitive aux Africains eux-mêmes qu’il reviendra de déterminer la nature et l’ampleur de l’intrusion de la Chine dans leurs affaires intérieures, et non l’inverse." (Translation: Africans, ultimately, will determine the nature and extent of the intrusion of China in their internal affairs).

al

Book Review: "The Time Traveler's Wife"

THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE
by Audrey Niffenegger
Published by MacAdam/Cage, 2003
ISBN 1931561648, 9781931561648
518 pages

This is a book about a couple Henry and Claire. The husband, Henry, is a time traveler who disappears to different point in time. Henry first met Claire when he was 28 and she was 20. However, she first met him when she was 6 and he was about 40.
Weird right?
In fact, after they first met when they were in their twenties, and got married, Henry later traveled in time to visit Claire when she was just 6. That's why she knew him when they met in their twenties, even though Henry did not know who she was.
For example Henry first made love to Claire when she was 18 and he was in his 40ties and already married to the Claire who is in her thirties. How come? Because he traveled back in time...
I know it is difficult to understand. Any story involving time traveling is difficult to explain anyway. However, the concept is great.
This fictional book won't probably increase your knowledge on a particular subject, but it is still very entertaining. It makes you ask yourself "what if...". For her very first book Audrey Niffenegger did a great job.
I recommend the book. It is great as a summer or vacation reading.

Ayemi L.

Top 10 Misconceptions about Chinese Investment in Africa

http://codrinarsene.com/2008/07/top-10-misconceptions
-about-chinese-investment-in-africa/


I found this article about Chinese relationship with Africa (Check the link above). I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it with you. Yet, I am not sure what to make of it...I am still thinking...
One thing I will say right now is that "if you do not protect your ass, no one will do it for you."
Two other things:

1. Compared to Africa's relationship with the Western nations, is its relationship with China and India better?
2. I don't think anyone other country will fight for Africa if African leaders do not fight for the interest of their own people.
The last time I checked international relations are still governed by the same theory: Realism. Basically, everyone for his own interest.

So, I might accuse Europeans, Americans, Chinese, Indians, etc for the way they treat Africa. However, allow me to accuse African leaders, first and foremost, for the way they are allowing others to treat Africa.

al

Book Review: "Mountains Beyond Mountains" (The book is in English, the review is in French)

MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS
By Tracy Kidder
317 pp
Random House, New York

“Good work without revolution only prolonged the status quo” semble etre l’une des meilleures phrases dans ce livre de Tracy Kidder. “Mountains Beyond Moutains” est le recit d’un docteur, Paul Farmer, qui a decide de quitter sa zone de confort et de s’impliquer dans l’humanitaire dans une des regions les plus pauvres au monde, Cange en Haiti. Tracy Kidder partage avec le lecteur son experience personnelle aux cotes du Dr. Farmer, ainsi que l’obstination d’un homme pour une cause : etre medecin des plus pauvres parmi les pauvres.

Paul Farmer est un diplôme de Harvard avec un M.D. en medecine et un PhD en anthropologie. Alors qu’il aurait pu choisir une vie aisee partage entre son travail dans un des meilleurs hopitaux au monde et une belle maison dans les banlieues de Boston, il decide plutôt de se consacrer aux soins des demunis. Il était etudiant quand il a visite Haiti pour la premiere fois. Le pays était domine par une dynastie de dictateurs et les conditions de sante etaient abjects. Paul Farmer n’a pas eu le courage de fermer les yeux et de retourner dans son monde de securite. Comme Tracy Kidder l’ecrit, « le monde est plein de lieux miserable. Une manière de vivre confortablement est de ne pas y penser ou, quand tu y penses, d’envoyer de l’argent. » Farmer a decide de ne pas seulement envoyer l’argent mais d’y aller. C’est cette passion qui l’a conduit a créer avec des amis l’organisme ‘Partners in Health’ (PIH). Grace a des fonds qu’ils collecte aupres d’amis et de parents, ces jeunes etudiants construisent un complexe hospitalier qui va changer la vie de milliers de personnes en Haiti.

Pendant qu’il poursuivait ses etudes a Harvard, Farmer partage sa vie entre les classes a Boston et son Hopital Zanmi Lasante en Haiti. Il s’est inspire de la vision en sante publique de l’Allemand Virchow, et de la philosophie de la Theologie de Liberation dont la pensee a envahi les pretres et eveques d’Amerique du Sud pendant les annees 1980. Il consacrait de longues journees a etudier la langue, la culture, et la societe Haitienne. Pour Farmer pour mieux soigner une population il faut maitriser sa culture et ses croyances.

La quete du Dr. Farmer est un recit inspirant et passionnant qui m’a conduit a une auto critique. La lecture de ce livre emmene invariablement le lecteur a s’interroger sur sa propre vie et son apport a la societe. L’auteur et le docteur, dans l’une de leurs discussions, evoquent le passage dans Matthieu qui dit « quand j’avais faim, tu m’as donne a mange. Quand j’avais soif tu m’as donne a boire. Quand j’etais malade… »

Le recit devient un peu ennuyeux vers la fin du livre quand le centre d’interet n’est plus sur la personne du Dr. Farmer mais sur les tractations menees par son organisme PIH aupres de l’OMS et de l’industrie pharmaceutique afin de rendre les produits pharmaceutiques contre la tuberculose accessible aux pauvres. Cependant, apres avoir lu « Mountains Beyond Mountains », il y a certains sujets evoque par le livre qui ont particulierement retenu mon attention.

Premierement, Dr. Farmer raconte a Kidder comment un barrage construit a Cange a change la vie des populations locales…negativement. L’eau qui servait a irriger l’agriculture a été retenu par le barrage, rendant les terres environnante incultivables. Les populations, avec l’agriculture comme principale source de survie, ont été oblige de se quitter leurs villages et d’abandonner tout pour se deplacer vers les milieux urbains. D’autres villages on vu leurs maisons submerger et on du tout quitter. Le barrage était destine a fournir l’electricite aux milieux urbains dans les maisons des riches Haitiens et des expatries Americains et Europeens. Les populations vivant sur les terres environnant n’avait pas d’electricite, sans parler d’eau potable.

Cela n’est qu’un example, parmi tant d’autres dans le livre, demontrant les effets pervers de ce que certains appellent le ‘developpement.’ Le plus impressionnant est le fait que les examples donnes dans le livre me rappellent tellement d’autres cas. Sous d’autres cieux, separes de l’Haiti par des milliers de kilometres, j’ai vu des cas semblables. Que ce soit pour exploiter le phosphate au Togo, le petrole au Nigeria, ou le diamant au Congo, l’exemple de l’Haiti n’est pas unique. Kidder ecrit : « This view of drowned farmland, the result of a dam that has made his patients some of the poorest of the poor, was a lens on the world. His lens. Look through it and you’d begin to see all the world’s impoverished in their billions and the many linked causes of their misery.”

Un autre point commun entre Haiti et l’Afrique evoque dans le livre est le sujet du Vodoo et comment les croyances populaire interferent avec la medicine. Cependant l’auteur, en parlant des origines du Vodoo, pointe la Picardie et la Normandie sans meme evoque l’Afrique. Ca semble bizarre vue que les memes pratiques se retrouvent sur la cote Ouest Africaine, et que les Haitiens sont les decendants d’anciens esclaves venus d’Afrique de l’Ouest.

Certains pourraient interpreter le recit de Paul Farmer comme une celebration—une fois de plus—de l’homme blanc venu ‘sauver’ les ‘peuples non-civilises.’ Mais la grandeur de l’ouvrage reside dans le fait que le livre nous fais implicitement comprendre que et le malheur et le sauveur ont la meme origine.

« Mountains Beyond Mountains » est inspirant et inoubliable. C’est un de ces livres que l’on lit et que l’on garde. C’est un de ces ouvrages qui nous rendent mal a l’aise et nous poussent a ‘faire quelque chose’ pour les plus demunis parmi les demunis. C’est le genre de livre qui contribue a changer positivement la personalite humaine. Le livre m’a été offert par une de mes meilleures amies et je lui en suis reconnaissante. Je le recommande a tous.

By Ayemi Lawani

Thomas Sankara

Allow me to share with you videos of this great African Hero named Thomas Sankara.

Thomas Sankara was President in Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. He was very charismatic and started a "revolution" in his country, improving public health and women rights. Because of his positions against neo-colonialism he antagonized Western interests in the country. He was killed on October 15, 1987 by his close friend. He lived a simple life. He was a genuine African Hero.

My Trip to New Orleans

I came back from my trip to N.O. with a great impression. I met many young people very enthusiastic about making a difference. Many of the attendees actually had great ideas and plans. They wanted to do this and this and ... that...they wanted to change the world.

That scared me!!

Obviously, I was not scared because of their eagerness. In fact, I was scared because we all have great ideas and great plans for our lives and the world when we are young. We all have dreams for us, our families, and our countries. I will do this when I grow up, I will change that when I have finished doing this.... and life goes by and nothing really happens.

Don't get me wrong, I am not pessimistic!

But... many have left their dreams behind, many have gave up, many have forgotten what they promised themselves to do... And that's why I am scared. I have seen people enthusiastic about their dreams and so few have tried hard enough to make it happened. I am scared that one day, I will look back in my life and say nostalgically "well, I HAD dreams." I am scared to lose my enthusiasm along the road.

That's why...

...I get my inspiration from those who have tried even if they have not succeeded

...I celebrate my successes and learn from my mistakes and strive for excellence in every aspect of my life

...I keep my dreams alive, and think about them every day

...I try not to give up on my dreams by finding excuses

...I let myself get frustrated every time I feel like I am lazy or giving up

That is why I stay focus.

Will I make ALL my dreams come through? I doubt it. But I will try as hard as I can to make most of them come through.

Will I leave some of my dreams along the road? Probably. But I will try as hard as I can to keep with me the ones I really care about.

I hope I will have the strength and the inspiration. I know I will make it.

I also hope these young students I met at New Orleans will keep their passion. I hope, if not most, at least some of them will have the strength and inspiration to make it happen. One person can change the room, the city, the world. So, If only some of them can make it happen, the world will be better off.

Good Luck!

Aime Cesaire...what do I know of him? Not as much as I should. I read and even had to memorize some of his poems when I was in elementary school without really knowing how great the author was. He was one of those people who, early on, inspired Africans in their fight against colonialism. Even though he was a French citizen, he did not lose his African roots. He became with Senghor and Damas key figures of the "Negritude." Through their poems and other writings many Africans came to realize how beautiful black skin is, and why they should not be ashamed of their culture. I respect you, Cesaire...No, better, I love you. You were a Great "Negre." Even though you were not as appreciated as you should in the French literature, your writings and positions will forever inspire us and the coming generations.
"Que les esprits de nos Ancetres t'acceuillent, et que la terre te soit legere."
Here is an excerpt of Wikipedia on Cesaire's biography followed by a youtube video:

Aimé Césaire was born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique. In 1931, he traveled to Paris to attend the Lycée Louis-le-Grand on an educational scholarship. In Paris, Césaire, who in 1935 passed an entrance exam for the École normale supérieure, created, with Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon Damas, the literary review L'Étudiant Noir (The Black Student) which was a forerunner of the Négritude movement. In 1936, Césaire began work on his book-length poem Cahier d'un retour au pays natal - Notebook of a Return to My Native Land - (1939), a vivid and powerful depiction of the ambiguities of Caribbean life and culture in the New World and this upon returning home to Martinique...

The years of World War II were ones of great intellectual activity for the Césaires. In 1941, Aimé Césaire and Suzanne Roussi founded the literary review Tropiques, with the help of other Martinican intellectuals like René Ménil and Aristide Maugée, in order to challenge the cultural status quo and alienation that then characterized Martinican identity. Many run-ins with censorship did not deter Césaire from being an outspoken defendant of Martinican identity. He also became close to French surrealist poet André Breton, who spent time in Martinique during the war. Breton contributed a laudatory introduction to the 1947 edition of Cahier d'un retour au pays natal, saying that "this poem is nothing less than the greatest lyrical monument of our times." ("ce poème [n'est] rien moins que le plus grand monument lyrique de ce temps").

In 1945, with the support of the French Communist Party, Césaire was elected mayor of Fort-de-France and député to the French National Assembly for Martinique. He was one of the principal drafters of the 1946 law on departmentalizing former colonies, a role for which independentist politicians have often criticized him.

Like many left intellectuals in France, Césaire looked in the 1930s and 1940s toward the Soviet Union as a source of human progress, virtue, and human rights, but Césaire later grew disillusioned with Communism. In 1956, after the invasion of Hungary by the Soviet Union, Aimé Césaire announced his resignation from the French Communist Party in a text entitled Lettre à Maurice Thorez. In 1958 he founded the Parti Progressiste Martiniquais. In 1960, he published Toussaint Louverture, based upon the life of the Haitian revolutionary. He served as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1983 to 1988. He retired from politics in 2001.

In 2006, he refused to meet the leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), Nicolas Sarkozy, then a probable contender for the 2007 presidential election, because the UMP had voted for the February 23, 2005 law asking teachers and textbooks to "acknowledge and recognize in particular the positive role of the French presence abroad, especially in North Africa", a law considered by many as a eulogy to colonialism and French actions during the Algerian War. President Jacques Chirac finally had the controversial law repealed[1].

His writings reflect his passion for civic and social engagement. He is the author of Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism) (1953), a denunciation of European colonial racism which was published in the French review Présence Africaine. In 1968, he published the first version of Une Tempête, a radical adaptation of Shakespeare's play The Tempest for a black audience.

Martinique's airport at Le Lamentin was renamed Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport on January 15, 2007.

From April 9, 2008, he had serious heart troubles and was admitted to Pierre Zobda Quitman hospital in Fort-de-France. He died on April 17, 2008.^[1]