Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Digest for usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com - 11 updates in 8 topics

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ABOLAJI Oluwatobi Omitogun

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Feb 29, 2024, 4:35:17 PM2/29/24
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On Wed, Feb 28, 2024, 17:46 <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
"cornelius...@gmail.com" <cornelius...@gmail.com>: Feb 27 01:05PM -0800

Chidi,
 
Kudos!
 
For some time now, “*Thought For Today*” has been making vital
contributions as a political and social critic, in his own uniquely crisp
and unorthodox way, also in the more than occasional deft touches to his
poetry, daring to voice what the more cowardly or fast asleep saviours
either don't care or are afraid to say. Maybe, because “*among the Igbo,
the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm
oil with which words are eaten*”, in their own defence the more cowardly
invoke the saying that “fools rush in where angels fear to tread
<https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fools+rush+in+where+angels+fear+to+tread>
.”
 
# The sufferation didn’t start yesterday; this I dey Hungry Hallelujah
Chorus in Pidgin
<https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=I+dey+Hungry+Hallelujah+Chorus+in+Pidgin>
is from three years ago.
 
Even as the criticism is piling up on a new government that is not yet even
six months old, some of the sympathisers and pundits are telling us, in
defence of the new admin, *that they inherited a mess and that it will take
some time to sort things out. *
 
Ojogbon says “*The spokespersons of the Tinubu government want us to give
them more time. Should we ask them how many months they want? Or is it
years?*”
 
Ojogbon wants to know.
 
Linton Kwesi Johnson: More Time
<https://www.google.com/search?q=Linton+Kwesi+Johnson+%3A+More+TIme>
 
There’s no question that as a two-term governor of Lagos State JAGABAN did
turn things around, and that during his tenure as governor, Lagos State
became an economic miracle. Some people campaigned and voted for the
Jagaban in the hope that he would do for Nigeria what he did for Lagos.
Maybe he will.
 
The phenomenon you are enquiring/complaining about is succinctly explained
in this Facebook article
<https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=359452856970858&set=a.100233096226170>
- another star essay in which the venerable Bukola Oyeniyi
<https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Bukola+Oyeniyi> also laments the death
of Mr Wigwe the philanthropist and informs us that regrettably, “Mr Wigwe
was a banker, a successful one at that. He was a member of the Redeemed
Christian Church of God and was said to have contributed monetarily to the
church in Lekki, Lagos. Following his death in a helicopter crash in the
United States of America, many have lauded him for his contributions to the
church at Lekki, his founding of a university, and more recently, his help
in the church getting multimillion-naira loans from his bank while farmers
were denied such opportunities.”
 
That sets the tone and tenor of that mind-expanding article, but to get
the full flavour and to get enlightened, you'll have to read the whole
article
 
 
On Tuesday 27 February 2024 at 18:10:31 UTC+1 Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM,
CDOA wrote:
 
"cornelius...@gmail.com" <cornelius...@gmail.com>: Feb 27 05:02PM -0800

For those who cannot access Facebook here's Dr Bukola Oyeniyi's *piece*
<https://nigeriaindepth.com/on-wigwes-contributions-to-the-rccg/?fbclid=IwAR29Vzsjxh9-7oR8TEF6rWKAkhJhN0DsHol9AF1ZFbXVfJsRV6KJxzkZyZk> which
gives a satisfactory explanation of how it is that, according to Chidi
Anthony Opara. "*In Nigeria, a Church and may be also a mosque would easily
get soft loan to build auditorium while small and medium scale businesses
would not get same to establish and grow their businesses*"
 
On Wednesday 28 February 2024 at 00:19:47 UTC+1 cornelius...@gmail.com
wrote:
 
"Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA" <chidi...@gmail.com>: Feb 28 02:24AM +0100

"The drawback, however, is that had Wigwe given the money to the farmers,
food insecurity would have been a thing of the past, and the mega-churches
would have made more money than they are currently making"-Bukola Oyeniyi.
 
On Wednesday 28 February 2024, cornelius...@gmail.com <
 
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Professional Fellow of Institute Of
Information Management Africa, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador,
Registered Freight Forwarder and Editorial Adviser at News Updates.
 
More about him here: https://independent.academia.edu/ChidiAnthonyOpara
"cornelius...@gmail.com" <cornelius...@gmail.com>: Feb 28 02:45AM -0800

The farmers would then solve the problem of food scarcity, and by making
their modest profits ,since one good turn deserves another, in return, they
would be gratefully lining the pockets of the church by paying their
tithes!
 
*WHAT GOD TOLD BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO ABOUT TITHING HAS CONTINUED TO WORK FOR
HIM* <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoNqmJqzaQs>
 
Chidi could you do *this*
<https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1379657892936967>?
 
On Wednesday 28 February 2024 at 02:33:42 UTC+1 Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM,
CDOA wrote:
 
Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>: Feb 28 01:35PM +0100

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68419865
Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>: Feb 28 01:40PM +0100

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/as-british-jews-we-call-for-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza
Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>: Feb 28 12:48PM

Alia Mudi, Serbia
 
https://aliamundimagazin.wixsite.com/alia-mundi-blog/en/post/am-info-a-panel-discussion-2023-outstanding-african-creative-books
Ayotunde Bewaji <tunde...@yahoo.com>: Feb 27 10:43PM

Dear Colleagues,
Kindly note the attached and assist in disseminating within your networks.
Ire o.
Tunde.
Dr. John Ayotunde (Tunde) Isola BEWAJI, FNAL
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of the West Indies
BA, MA, PhD Philosophy, PGDE, MA Distance Education
Postgraduate Certificate in Philosophy for ChildrenFormer Visiting Research Fellow, Rhodes University Center for African Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa
Distinguished Researcher, PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica
Member, CODESRIA College of Mentors
Founding President, Academy of African Indigenous Religions, Theology and Arts - AAIRTAFormer Professorial Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer, National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria
Former Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg, Republic of South AfricaFormer Caribbean Exchange Scholar, Hunter College - CUNY, New YorkFormer Jay Newman Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Brooklyn College - CUNYFormer Guggenheim Research Fellow in Philosophy of Culture
Former People to People Philosophy Ambassador to Russia and Hungary
Former Chair, National Bioethics Commission of Jamaica (UNESCO)
Mailing Address:
PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica
Tel:   +18768051909
Email: tunde...@yahoo.com (alternate)
           johnayotu...@gmail.com (alternate)           john....@uwimona.edu.jm (alternate)
Books include:
http://www.cap-press.com/books/isbn/9781611630879/Narratives-of-Struggle (2012)
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Aesthetics (2012)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739185032/Ontologized-Ethics (2013)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498518383/The-Rule-of-Law-and-Governance-in-Indigenous-Yoruba-Society-A-Study-in-African-Philosophy-of-Law (2016)
http://www.cambridgescholars.com/the-humanities-and-the-dynamics-of-african-culture-in-the-21st-century (2017)
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498598132/Identity-Re-creation-in-Global-African-Encounters (2019)
https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/5358/1/WP25-AMc-2-Bewaji-Diaspora-2021.pdf
https://youtu.be/xkq1XPSMHTs
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666905830/Fragmented-Identities-of-Nigeria-Sociopolitical-and-Economic-Crises#:~:text=%22Fragmented%20Identities%20of%20Nigeria%20offers,the%20different%20segments%20of%20the (2022)

 
On Tuesday, 20 February 2024 at 16:09:49 GMT-5, Osakue Omoera <osakue...@gmail.com> wrote:

May the soul of PKK rest in peace. I met him in 2014 at an International Conference hosted by Kisii University where Amutabi and PKK were excellent hosts. He came across as a very calm, approachable and witty intellectual. We kept in touch ever since until his demise. Good night my friend.Osakue OMOERA 
On Mon, Feb 19, 2024, 11:46 PM <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
 

| usaafric...@googlegroups.com | Google Groups | |
 
Topic digest
View all topics
- A little Saturday musing ( an idle mind is the devil's workshop, so keep the mind occupied. - 1 Update
- Thought For Today - 1 Update
- Under One Ethiopian Tent Lecture - 1 Update
- Mourning the Passing of an Academic Giant Prof Kibiwott Kurgat By Prof. Maurice N. Amutabi, PhD - 1 Update
- A Case For Philosophy For Children In African Schools By Leo Igwe | Sahara Reporters - 1 Update
- Hunger: Northern Nigeria takes its mother to the sky, By Festus Adedayo - 1 Update
- 3 Years After Concession Agreements Expired, Terminal Operators Doing Business ‘Freely’ At Nation’s Seaports - 1 Update
- US threatens to block new UN Security Council vote on Gaza ceasefire - 1 Update
- AHRDC 2024: Updated Schedule and Meeting Link - 1 Update
- Debased Curriculum in the University, says Harry Lewis of Harvard - 1 Update
- Citizenship, By Toyin Falola - 1 Update
- Sanctums Of Sin And Other Poems - 1 Update
- Today's Quote - 1 Update
- Re - “We all were lied to: Gaza was a modern, developed city before October 7 - opinion” posted by Adepoju) - 2 Updates
A little Saturday musing ( an idle mind is the devil's workshop, so keep the mind occupied.
| gbemisoye tijani <tijanig...@gmail.com>: Dec 19 02:01AM +0100
 
|
 
Back to top Thought For Today
| "Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA" <chidi...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 05:42PM +0100
 
What the Nigerian social media loud mouths do not understand is that by
removing petrol subsidy, President Tinubu is fighting very influential and
brutal Mafia who are capable of doing anything!
 
Thanks.
 
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO).
 
 
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Professional Fellow of Institute Of
Information Management Africa, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador,
Registered Freight Forwarder and Editorial Adviser at News Updates.
 
More about him here: https://independent.academia.edu/ChidiAnthonyOpara
|
 
Back to top Under One Ethiopian Tent Lecture
| Biko Agozino <biko...@yahoo.com>: Feb 19 05:10PM
 
Under one “Ethiopian Tent:” Pan-Africanism, Anti-imperialism, and Multiracial worker movements in Trinidad and Tobago – Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Events Calendar
 
 
|
|
| |
Under one “Ethiopian Tent:” Pan-Africanism, Anti-imperialism, and Multir...
 
 
|
 
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Biko
|
 
Back to top Mourning the Passing of an Academic Giant Prof Kibiwott Kurgat By Prof. Maurice N. Amutabi, PhD
| "Elias K. Bongmba" <bon...@rice.edu>: Feb 19 06:56AM -0600
 
Dear Prof. Amutabi,
 
thank you such a rich and befitting tribute to Professor Kibiwoti
Kurgat. You give us so many ways to think about his scholarship,
service, and humanity. The Good Lord has called him home and we can only
imagine from our vantage point, the great reunion Prof has had with his
ancestors and those who departed before him. May his example be our
guiding light.
 
Sincerely,
 
Elias
 
On 2/17/2024 6:03 AM, Maurice Amutabi wrote:
 
--
Elias Kifon Bongmba PhD, DTheo (Lund)
Harry and Hazel Chavanne Chair in Christian Theology
Professor of Religion
Associate Editor of Religion and Theology
Rice university
PO Box 1892 Houston TX 77251-1892
https://reli.rice.edu/faculty/elias-kifon-bongmba
|
 
Back to top A Case For Philosophy For Children In African Schools By Leo Igwe | Sahara Reporters
| Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 10:43AM +0100
 
https://saharareporters.com/2024/02/18/case-philosophy-children-african-schools-leo-igwe
|
 
Back to top Hunger: Northern Nigeria takes its mother to the sky, By Festus Adedayo
| Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 10:41AM +0100
 
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/669361-hunger-northern-nigeria-takes-its-mother-to-the-sky-by-festus-adedayo.html
|
 
Back to top 3 Years After Concession Agreements Expired, Terminal Operators Doing Business ‘Freely’ At Nation’s Seaports
| "Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA" <chidi...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 11:07AM +0100
 
"In a chat with our correspondent, Mr Chidi Anthony Opara; a freight
forwarder expressed scepticism about the delay in renewing concession
agreements, this is even as he suspected political manoeuvring and “new
friends eyeing the juicy port concessions” as potential reasons for the
delay......"
 
Link:
https://shippingposition.com.ng/3-years-after-concession-agreements-expired-terminal-operators-doing-business-freely-at-nations-seaports/
 
 
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Professional Fellow of Institute Of
Information Management Africa, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador,
Registered Freight Forwarder and Editorial Adviser at News Updates.
 
More about him here: https://independent.academia.edu/ChidiAnthonyOpara
|
 
Back to top US threatens to block new UN Security Council vote on Gaza ceasefire
| Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 10:06AM +0100
 
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/02/18/US-threatens-to-block-new-UN-Security-Council-vote-on-Gaza-ceasefire-
|
 
Back to top AHRDC 2024: Updated Schedule and Meeting Link
| Chukwuemeka C Agbo <chukwuem...@utexas.edu>: Feb 19 06:30AM +0100
 
Dear all,
 
 
Please join us today, Moday, February 19 through Wednesday 21, 2024, to
discuss the subject of citizenship and celebrate the distinguished career
of Professor Toyin Falola. The updated conference schedule is attached.
Please, also find the meeting link below. Feel free to share the link
widely with your contacts and students. The event is open to the public.
 
 
*Meeting Link*
 
African Humanities Research and Development Conference (AHRDC) 2024
 
February 19 – 21, 2024
 
Time zone: Africa/Lagos
 
Google Meet joining info
 
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/tcj-rxin-xts
 
Or dial: ‪(ZA) +27 10 823 0320 PIN: ‪873 826 724 2248#
 
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/tcj-rxin-xts?pin=8738267242248
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Chukwuemeka
 
 
 
Chukwuemeka Agbo, Ph.D.
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
128 Inner Campus Drive
B7000 Austin, Tx, 78712-0220, USA
Vice President for Research and Publications, African Humanities Research
and Development Circle (AHRDC) <http://ahrdc.academy/>
Editor, *Journal of African Humanities and Research Development*
<https://ahrdc.academy/journals/> (*JAHRD*)
w: https://ahrdc.academy/dr-chukwuemeka-agbo/
orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0991-4813
 
*Forthcoming Events*
African Humanities Research and Development Conference (AHRDC 2023)
"Navigating Nigerian Archives: Experiences, Opportunities, & Advancements,"
February 20-22, 2023.
To learn more, submit your abstract, and register, click here
<https://ahrdc.academy/navigating-nigerian-archives/>
|
 
Back to top Debased Curriculum in the University, says Harry Lewis of Harvard
| Bunmi fatoye-matory <bun...@gmail.com>: Feb 18 10:54PM -0500
 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/harvard-s-crisis-stems-from-debased-curriculum/ar-BB1isKOD
<https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/harvard-s-crisis-stems-from-debased-curriculum/ar-BB1isKOD?ocid=socialshare&pc=EE02&cvid=ea6d377a58e04f25bdae4081a69dca61&ei=19>
|
 
Back to top Citizenship, By Toyin Falola
| Adebayo Ajadi <toyinfalolab...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 12:26AM +0100
 
Citizenship, By Toyin Falola
https://heartofarts.org/citizenship/
 
--
Adebayo Ajadi (ND Business Administration )
Assistant Brand Manager,
Toyin Falola Network
- Pan-African University Press
- The Toyin Falola Interviews
- Toyin Falola Center for the Study of Africa
- Toyin Falola Annual Conference on Africa and the African Diaspora (TOFAC)
+234-810-7262-267 | +1 (512) 689-6067 | https://toyinfalolanetwork.org
Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Linkedin
|
 
Back to top Sanctums Of Sin And Other Poems
| "Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA" <chidi...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 09:37AM +0100
 
Link: https://heartofarts.org/sanctums-of-sin-and-other-poems/#
 
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Professional Fellow of Institute Of
Information Management Africa, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador,
Registered Freight Forwarder and Editorial Adviser at News Updates.
 
More about him here: https://independent.academia.edu/ChidiAnthonyOpara
|
 
Back to top Today's Quote
| "Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA" <chidi...@gmail.com>: Feb 19 01:17AM +0100
 
The "we told you" mindset prevalent now in Nigeria have no reasonable
basis. The present economic problems, a consequence of 8 years of inertia,
would have still happened inspite of whoever was elected.
 
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO).
 
 
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Professional Fellow of Institute Of
Information Management Africa, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador,
Registered Freight Forwarder and Editorial Adviser at News Updates.
 
More about him here: https://independent.academia.edu/ChidiAnthonyOpara
|
 
Back to top Re - “We all were lied to: Gaza was a modern, developed city before October 7 - opinion” posted by Adepoju)
| "cornelius...@gmail.com" <cornelius...@gmail.com>: Feb 18 02:48PM -0800
 
http://tinyurl.com/254w7kcx
 
 
On Saturday 10 February 2024 at 22:40:45 UTC+1 Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
wrote:
 
|
| "cornelius...@gmail.com" <cornelius...@gmail.com>: Feb 18 02:53PM -0800
 
Hate speech?
 
META CONSIDERING INCREASED CENSORSHIP OF THE WORD “ZIONIST”
<http://tinyurl.com/2a8mvzsr>
 
On Saturday 10 February 2024 at 22:40:45 UTC+1 Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
wrote:
 
|
 
Back to top
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Salimonu Kadiri <ogunl...@hotmail.com>: Feb 27 08:35PM

Although a great minority of human beings in the world are psychopaths and sadists, they are nevertheless rulers over the vast majority of people on this planet, earth. Ironically, the minority psychopaths and sadists that have been, and are still, ruling the world call themselves democrats and attribute all the harms and pains they inflict on the majority people of this world not only to the will of God but to the wish of all mankind. The global minority of psychopaths and sadists have through wars of conquest obtained hegemonic dominance over global resources which they control through their appointed puppets world over. Furthermore, the minority psychopaths and sadists of the world have single-handedly dictated world economic order and international laws which they have imposed on the verse majority of the people of the world. By so doing the minority psychopaths and sadists are in total control of the natural resources of the world which they exploit at will and accrued financial gains are kept in their deceptively named World Bank. All governments are forced to put their foreign reserves in their so-called world bank in which the psychopaths and sadists usurp the right to freeze or seize other nations' savings at will. Notably any government enthroned by the psychopaths and sadists is legal, legitimate and democratic, but any government that does not emanate from them is illegal, illegitimate, despotic, autocratic or dictatorial.
 
It all began when psychopaths and sadists sailed to America and Asia and committed genocide against the aborigines there, whereafter, land and cattle were seized. From Africa they carted and ferried Africans to work in their American plantations as slaves. Psychopaths and sadists classified their genocides in America, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the enslavement of Africans as the survival of the fittest and spreading of civilisation. Triumphantly, the pale-skinned psychopaths and sadists mostly from Western Europe constructed racial pyramid whereby pale-skinned people of Europe were on top while the dark-skinned people of Africa were at the base and the Mongoloid Asians were in the middle. Pictorially, the psychopaths and sadists identified their race as white, Asians as yellow, American aborigines as red and Africans as black. Even among Europeans till date, there is hierarchy in being white as the degree of paleness of the colour of the skin determines superiority, which implies that the greater the paleness of the skin, the greater the superiority to the less pale.
 
The theory of racial inequality was first propounded about 1850 by a French Count, a Diplomat and philosopher in history, named Joseph Arthur De Gobineau. He died in 1882, seven years before Hitler was born and three years before countries of Western Europe, at the Berlin Conference of 1885, agreed among themselves to partition Africa into their colonies, that is to say the European countries appropriated to themselves the ownership of people in Africa and all natural resources inside and on the African soil. In 1763 the British East India Trade Company had seized the possession of India but when the Indian resistance that culminated in the Sepoy uprising of 1858 was brutally crushed, the British Crown took over the administration of India as a colony. Although China was not colonized, Britain declared war on China, 1839-1842, because of China's refusal to allow Britain to import opium from India into China. The defeated China in the so-called opium war was forced to cede Hong Kong to Britain in 1842. Since the government of China continued to resist the plan of the psychopaths and sadists to subject the people of China to opium addiction, Britain and France declared war on China again in 1856 which resulted in victory for the aggressors in 1860. The victors, Britain and France, forced China to accept the establishment of free trade in five Chinese ports and legalization of opium trade in China. At the beginning of the 20th century Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Holland had conquered most parts of Asia and Africa as colonies. Earlier in North and South America, the aborigines were either completely exterminated or reduced to minorities by European colonisers in order to settle there, their own surplus citizens.
 
Since there can never be honour among thieves, European colonialists began to fight among themselves over the worth of the portion of the earth they have appropriated to themselves as colonies. The internal rivalries and squabbles among Europe's colonialists for the control of the resources of the world led to war which they fraudulently called World War I, 1914-1918. While the colonialists' war was ongoing, Vladimir Lenin led the Bolsheviks revolution against Russia's Tsar Nicholas II and his victory in October 1917 led to the establishment of a communist regime led by Lenin who ended the participation of Russia in the World War 1, on December 15, 1917. Following the defeat of the Central Powers, principally Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, the Treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany in 1919 whereby, Germany was dispossessed of all her colonies in Africa namely, South-West Africa (present day Namibia), Tanganyika (present day Tanzania) Cameroon and Togo. The League of Nations which was formed in 1920 with headquarter in Geneva was dominated by Europe and the League hurriedly handed over the administration of former Turkish-controlled areas of the Middle East, including Palestine, to Britain.
 
The League of Nations consisting mainly of European nations and the U.S.A. was designed to solve disputes peacefully among the European powers, including its extension, USA. But how could peace be achieved among ravenous hyenas of Europe where ownership of colonies abroad had been declared solution to hunger and starvation at home when at the same time the Versailles' Treaty dispossessed Germany of all its colonies in Africa? By July 19, 1925, Adolf Hitler published a book titled, "Eine Abrechnung meaning 'A Reckoning.'' That was followed by another publication on December 11, 1926, titled, "Die Nationalsozialistiche Bewegung meaning, National Socialist Movement." The two volumes were merged into one in 1930 with the title, "Mein Kampf which in the USA was translated to 'My Battle,' and in Britain to My Struggle." On page one of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote, "One blood demands one Reich(Nation). Never will the German nation possess the moral right to engage in COLONIAL POLITICS, until, at least, it (Germany) embraces its own sons within a single state. Only when the Reich (Nation) borders include the very last German, BUT CAN NO LONGER GUARANTEE HIS DAILY BREAD, WILL THE MORAL RIGHT TO ACQUIRE FOREIGN SOIL ARISE FROM THE DISTRESS OF OUR OWN PEOPLE. Their sword will become our plough, and from the tears of war the DAILY BREAD OF FUTURE GENERATIONS (of Germans) WILL GROW." An understanding of the above written declaration of Hitler is that he started the second world war not because of the Jews but for the right of Germany to own colonies which to him was the only means of delivering daily bread to his people as other European countries of that time were doing. Thus, World War II was not primarily about holocaust but about owning colonies whose people European leaders had racially declared inferior to their own citizens and therefore were destined to be exploited along with their resources by the superior European race. The German National Socialist Party led by Adolf Hitler won the General Election of 1933 and on January 30, 1933, Hitler became German Chancellor. (To be continued)
Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>: Feb 27 11:17PM

[X]
 
A PANEL DISCUSSION ON 2023 OUTSTANDING AFRICAN CREATIVE BOOKS WRITTEN IN ENGLISH: NOVELS, DRAMA, POETRY, CHILDREN'S BOOKS, PART 1
 
[X]
 
(This is the first interview report on the Panel Discussion on 2023 Outstanding African Creative Books Written in English February 25, 2024. For the transcripts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp7C5YEDZUY)
 
 
 
PART 1
 
Books Have Wings!
 
Toyin Falola
 
Storytelling exists everywhere but in different dimensions. The art of telling stories showcases the ingenuity of humans, who have built a culture of identity preservation through narratives. Writers draw inspiration from their environment to convert retrieved data into intellectual imaginations that all readers can share with an intention primarily to bring about the refinement of human character for their purposes and the benefit of the world by extension. From the actual time when Africans gotfamiliar with scribbles and were introduced to orthographic systems, they have made maximum use of that opportunity to duplicate each of their cultural values into writing in the expectation that their productions would inspire a generation that looks inward for creative initiatives. Although written narratives have recently gained prominence in many places, their impact has been exponential, given their widespread influence and global reach.
 
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Photo: Professor Bill Ndi
 
 
 
Nonetheless, storytelling is not a new tradition, especially for cultural identities that basically depend on oral mediums as instruments of preserving their heritage, especially their core epistemological legacies. For these reasons, books themselves are believed to have wings, only that their wings are given to readers to fly. For both readers and writers, Africans have,however, demonstrated excellent skills in using these wings to teleport themselves into places.
 
Creatives in Africa take us through such insightful journeysof books and relish the otherworldly experience that narratives confer on their readers. They argue, for example, that books have this intoxicating power that draws innocent readers into a make-believe world where they imagine the activities described inside of the texts not as isolated imaginative occurrences that are painted by creative authors, poets, playwrights but as experiences which they have lived but detached from by virtue of their impersonal connections to them. Readers who have experienced the brutal hands of power demonstrated, for example, by bureaucratic establishments in their lives, would immediately understand and even identify with characters in a work of art that is undergoing traumatic treatment occasioned by irresponsible leadership with which they are beleaguered. Writers agree that although such readers have not directly experienced bureaucratic indignation as the characters in the work they are reading have, they nonetheless have lived similar experiences in different manifestations. In essence, the book provides them the wings to fly within the space of unwholesome representation that is symbolic of purposeless leadership, and for that, the imagination of the writer becomes the demonstration of their encounters. Examined this way, the narrators are themselves like the anchor of a ship, for they enable readers to access the world that they are otherwise incapable of reaching at the moment of consumption.
 
Kalaf Epalanga's White Can Dance Too comes as one beautiful artistic production from an African writer that yet again accentuates the position of the creative scholars in the panel, for it allows the readers to travel the experience of the characters in it without necessarily jumping a bridge with them. The book lays bare the experiences of people in the 21st century and the unrealistic expectations that the world has of the individuals in it. Telling the story of internationalism, the book makes very bold positions about migration and the politics that have moved ineluctably fundamental in the current time. Among other things, we discover that although movement and mobility are an integral component of human existence, they nonetheless become a political problem when issues that drive people to migrate are themselves manipulable and exploitable. Hunger, for that matter, does not become a problem until it is remotely manipulated, caused to happen, or engineered. People need land for cultivating agricultural activities, but such land that is perpetually exposed to wars and conflicts becomes an impossible project to drive hunger away from its people.
 
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Photo: Nthabiseng JahRose
 
Meanwhile, the resultant effect is that people would be driven away, seeking desperate means for their survival. In essence, migration, which appears to be the product of that reality, is itself created by an illusion. Here lies the complications of movement and mobility. It gives rewarding feelings that work now expands on such undergarment politics that build an environment that makes mobility inevitable, regardless of people's location.
 
The beautiful thing about writers is that they reveal to us that although the politics of movement is driven around the above submission, it is not the only thing motivating migration of some sort. The work by Epalanga is revelatory of this. Kalaf,who is considered the protagonist, is an individual with great talents. A musician who is on the way to move his intellectual resources, specifically musical talent, to another country has the prerogative of involving in physical migration. Despite his essentially outstanding intentions and pure inclinations to spread his musical talents to Norway, the experience suddenly becamevery outrageous as he was in the country without his travel documents. From waiting to becoming an internationally knownand celebrated artist, he immediately becomes persona non grata and is left to the mercy of security agents in detention. Ironically, his music could not come to the rescue because he would have to face the music of Norwegian laws, principally because of their stringent regulations around the immigrant population. Thus, the writer uses that opportunity to educate readers about the complications of human sociological systemsin contemporary times, as relationships and bonding are issues of serious political debates that seek isolation from others because of race, class, and economic disparity. But then, there are more.
 
Writers like this help us understand the fragility of the human race, especially when we understand that it is possible to manipulate otherwise sturdy systems for provincial reasons. As much as there are interests that are driven by parochial ambitions, humans cannot, therefore, escape some situations,which are basically the aftermath of their intentions. When the protagonist encounters a sharp turn of fate, he immediatelyresorts to singing since that remains the only consolation he has when things go south. He uses music to escape the problems of the world just as embattled migrants seek every means to escape the stringent regulations that deprive them of their humanity. For migrants like Kalaf, escaping the harsh atmosphere of their destination countries is necessary, but if one must escape, the question is "to where?" This has, therefore, been answered in the text under review.
 
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Photo: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
 
Perhaps because of his immersion in African cultures and their moral principles, the protagonist escapes into the world of Africa through music, as that is the area with which he is familiar and the location without borders. Telling stories this way in contemporary times has brought out the ingenuity of African writers in the ways that they depict the sociopolitical dynamics involved in shaping their socialization, bonding, and identity politics. These are the predominant arguments pushed in most works produced by Africans in contemporary times.
 
What discussants agree on is that literary works provide readers the opportunity to live the experience of everyday people in their own lives. Rather than being a detached reader without emotional connection with those discussed in a text, they are individuals outside of the production landscape who nonetheless have been transported into the world of actual beings that have the firsthand experience that characters have in the narrative. Consider, for example, the issue of relationships in contemporary times, which has remained very difficult to address and understand given the fact that different occasions necessitate human reactions of some sort. The relationshipbecomes an issue in the current generation as individuals face difficulties in their efforts to negotiate themselves to fulfillmentin life. Both males and females of Gen Z are basicallypreoccupied with activities so much that they are unable to experience life in its African sociological essence. As long as desires for self-realization trump everything else, the issue of socialization and bonding will always encounter critical challenges. The Gen Z male is preoccupied with activities to break away from generational problems, and the female is entangled with similar problems. Coming together, therefore,has proven very difficult.
 
A panelist highlights how Chika Unigwe, in her book The Middle Daughter, represents an experiment in the currentrelationship market involving Gen Z. The work meanwhile functions as metaphorical for situations of Africa, particularly the political realities of the people. Leaders and followers, by virtue of their political relationships, have various expectations,just like the protagonist and her boyfriend. The leader at the one end of the bargain is predatory and seeks to exploit the relationship for provincial objectives, while the followers, on the other hand, are innocent and ignorant of the former's unwholesome intentions towards them. It remains true to the level that each occasion of unproductive leadership represents an assault on the followers, leading especially to the onslaught of their future aspirations in all ramifications. Perhaps deliberately, the political class, just like the unserious boyfriend, does not understand the gravity of their ill-intentioned behavior, which,among other things, has brought ruination to the citizenry. They are greedy, self-centered, and unconcerned about the conditions of their masses, but then they paint themselves as all the citizens need during electioneering campaigns.
 
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Photo: Fadwa Ashraf
 
Writers are believed to have this magical power to describe events in a very vivid manner so that they would be handed down appropriately. It cannot be overemphasized that such wings always exist in literary productions, and the responsibilityof fixing them remains that of the readers. These are the ways by which writers make meanings of their world. A book can fly!
 
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Adebayo Ajadi <toyinfalolab...@gmail.com>: Feb 27 06:32PM +0100

Knowledge Production about Africa: The Vital Roles of Languages and
Archives, By Toyin Falola
https://heartofarts.org/knowledge-production-about-africa-the-vital-roles-of-languages-and-archives/
 
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Adebayo Ajadi (ND Business Administration )
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