``xBy Samuel Cotton

African Americans have contended for decades with a rage born of remembrance--a resentment fomented by poignant images of black Africans captured, bound, and sent into the horrors of slavery. Some have been driven to travel to the continent of Africa, and stand on the shores of West Africa to view the actual places where the degradation of a race began. At these places, the grandchildren of ancient slaves--survivors of a holocaust--wrestle with a terrible mixture of emotions. The passions produced by the realization that the forts before them housed their African ancestors in their last days of freedom before a long voyage delivered them into the hands of cruel masters. The white hot anger that rises slowly in African Americans as they recall these events and the epithets that dance in the heads of these observers of the past, sometimes escapes their lips as curses and bitter mutterings. Occasionally, African Americans simply fulminate. These bitter expressions of resentment and grief have only been cooled and soothed by a belief that African Americans hold. The comforting assurance that the buying and selling of black African slaves ended in the distant past. More``xMember``x``xArab Masters-Black Slaves``x980150400,54336,History4``x``x ``x"Many Billions Gone:
Is It Time to Reconsider the Case for Black Reparations?" (excerpt)

by Robert Westley
Associate Professor, Tulane University Law School

Compensation to Blacks for the injustices suffered by them must first and foremost be monetary. It must be sufficient to indicate that the United States truly wishes to make Blacks whole for the losses they have endured. Sufficient, in other words, to reflect not only the extent of unjust Black suffering, but also the need for Black economic independence from societal discrimination. No less than with the freedmen, freedom for Black people today means economic freedom and security. A basis for that freedom and security can be assured through group reparations in the form of monetary compensation, along with free provision of goods and services to Black communities across the nation. The guiding principle of reparations must be self-determination in every sphere of life in which Blacks are currently dependent.

To this end, a private trust should be established for the benefit of all Black Americans. The trust should be administered by trustees popularly elected by the intended beneficiaries of the trust. The trust should be financed by funds drawn annually from the general revenue of the United States for a period not to exceed ten years. The trust funds should be expendable on any project or pursuit aimed at the educational and economic empowerment of the trust beneficiaries to be determined on the basis of need. Any trust beneficiary should have the right to submit proposals to the trustees for the expenditure of trust funds.

The above is only a suggestion about how to use group reparations for the benefit of Blacks as a whole. In the end, determining a method by which all Black people can participate in their own empowerment will require a much more refined instrument than it would be appropriate for me to attempt to describe here. My own beliefs about what institutions Black people need most certainly will not reflect the views of all Black people, just as my belief that individual compensation is not the best way to proceed probably does not place me in the majority. Everybody who could just get a check has many reasons to believe that it would be best to get a check. On this point, I must subscribe to the wisdom that holds, if you give a man a loaf, you feed him for a day. It is for those Blacks who survive on a "breadconcern level" that the demand for reparations assumes its greatest importance.


Citation: Westley, Robert. "Many Billions Gone: Is It Time to Reconsider the Case for Black Reparations?". Boston College Law Review, December 1998, Volume XL, Number 1.


"If the Shoe Fits, Wear It:
An Analysis of Reparations to African Americans" (excerpt)

by Vincene Verdun
Associate Professor, The Ohio State University College of Law

This almost constant plea for reparations over the past one hundred and thirty years appears mysterious and even irrational from the perspective of many Americans. The perception among many that reparations are threatening or ineffective is revealed in a number of contradictory arguments, for example: 1) reparations are unlikely ever to be awarded, after all, no relief has been given for the past one hundred and thirty years; 2) reparations are undeserved by African Americans since all ex-slaves have been dead for at least a generation; 3) white Americans living today have not injured African Americans and should not be required to pay for the sins of their slavemaster forbearers; 4) it is impossible to determine who should get what and how much; and 5) African Americans must become self-reliant and determine their own fate and stop waiting for relief from external sources. Opponents of reparations to African Americans are so overwhelmingly entrenched in the rightness of their position that they conceptualize the cry for reparations as frivolous, meritless, and divisive.

However, the reparations movement cannot be easily dismissed or discredited, in part because so many of its supporters are part of the American mainstream. For the same reason, the movement cannot be classified as radical or extremist. A movement that has been sustained through several generations and that has won the support of knowledgeable and reputable people throughout history, including members of Congress, business people, professionals, academicians, attorneys, educators, and other hard working people cannot be dismissed as frivolous. Proponents of reparations pursue their cause with fervor equivalent to that of its opponents and stand firm in their assertion that the reparations given to Jews by Germany, and to Native Americans and Japanese Americans by the United States, set precedents for the payment of reparations to African Americans. The moral basis for reparations is simply stated: 1) slaves were not paid for their labor for more than two hundred and sixty-five years, thereby depriving the descendants of slaves of their inheritance; the descendants of the slavemasters inherited the benefit derived from slave labor, which properly belonged to the descendants of slaves; 2) the United States Government promised ex-slaves forty acres and a mule and did not make good on that promise; and 3) systematic and government-sanctioned economic and racial oppression since the abolition of slavery impeded and interfered with the self-determination of African Americans and excluded them from sharing in the growth and prosperity of the nation.

Unfortunately, the proponents and opponents of reparations maintain diametrically opposed points of view, and both groups are deeply entrenched in the correctness of their beliefs. Reasonable people may differ on any topic, but when two groups of people from the same society assume such polar positions on an issue, the foundation of such opposition is usually traceable to some basic normative difference. For example, the underlying normative difference in the abortion debate between pro-choice and pro-life advocates is the belief by pro-life advocates that abortion is sinful or wrong - a belief that is usually grounded in religious or biblical principles so deeply imbedded in the perception of the believer that there is no room for compromise. Pro-choice advocates, who do not perceive abortion as a sin or wrong and who do not share the beliefs of the pro-life advocates, stand firm in their protection of the rights of individuals to make their own decisions.

Likewise, opponents and proponents of reparations approach the issue of reparations from two distinct perspectives that are based on differences in the beliefs imbedded in the perception of each group. Opponents of reparations, who are usually white, frequently approach the issue of reparations from the dominant perspective - a system of values and perceptions common to the group that exercises economic, political, and ideological control over society. Proponents of reparations, most often African Americans, evaluate reparations on the basis of a consciousness - the African-American consciousness - spawned from generations of survival as an oppressed people in a hostile environment and rooted in the heritage of the African culture, which survived the trip across the Atlantic Ocean and the institution of slavery. The differences in these two value systems and the perspectives they engender form the foundation for the polarity between opponents and proponents of reparations.


Citation: Verdun, Vincene. "If the Shoe Fits, Wear It: An Analysis of Reparations to African Americans". Tulane Law Review, February 1993, Volume 67, Number 3, p. 607-610.

Reproduced from:
http://www.thedebt.net/legal.shtml``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xLegal Arguments in Support of Reparations``x988933302,39826,Development``x``x ``xFewer than 50 people founded the entire population of Europe, according to a new and accurate way to read demographic history from the genome.

Scientists previously believed that the 500 million people that live in Europe today are descendants of about 10,000 people who left Africa around 100,000 years ago.

But scientists from the Whitehead Institute at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts have found so much genetic evidence of inbreeding, they believe all Europeans probably descended from fewer than about 50 people who interbred together over about 30 generations. This select group may have left Africa about 60,000 years ago.

Their data comes from maps of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are the single letter differences in DNA which can exist between people.

The discovery is good news for medicine because the unexpectedly low degree of genetic variation will make it far easier to isolate the genes that underpin common diseases. "I'm very, very excited about this," said Eric Lander of the Whitehead Institute. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xFewer than 50 people founded Europe``x989391600,16094,History4``x``x ``xBy Trinicenter Special

The theory that the ancestors of all modern humans came from Africa received a boost on Thursday with the publication of supporting research. Scientists based across Asia, in the US and the UK examined the Y-chromosomes of more than 12,000 people from across Asia and found no traces of any ancient non-African influence.

"This result indicates that modern humans of African origin completely replaced earlier populations in East Asia," the researchers write in the journal Science.
The main alternative explanation of human origins - that modern humans are descended from separate populations which developed in different places - is known as multiregionalism.

"This really puts the nail in the coffin of multiregionalism," R Spencer Wells, co-author of the research, told BBC News Online. The value of the new research lies in the scale of the project, he said. More``xEditor``xeditor@trinicenter.com``xModern Asians have African ancestors``x989478000,71221,``x``x ``xAsiansThe theory that the ancestors of all modern humans came from Africa received a boost on Thursday with the publication of supporting research. Scientists based across Asia, in the US and the UK examined the Y-chromosomes of more than 12,000 people from across Asia and found no traces of any ancient non-African influence. "This result indicates that modern humans of African origin completely replaced earlier populations in East Asia," the researchers write in the journal Science.
The main alternative explanation of human origins - that modern humans are descended from separate populations which developed in different places - is known as multiregionalism.

"This really puts the nail in the coffin of multiregionalism," R Spencer Wells, co-author of the research, told BBC News Online. The value of the new research lies in the scale of the project, he said More``xMember``x``xModern Asians have African ancestors``x989478000,29961,History4``x``x ``xThe United States and European nations are against any discussions about reparations at a major United Nations conference on racism.

South Africa is leading an African bloc that wants the conference to label slavery "a crime against humanity" - a description, which the UK, Spain and Portugal reject.

The European countries and the US are also resisting African calls for some kind of reparations for the slave trade.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson - who will host the anti-racism conference in the South African city of Durban later this year - urged delegates to "look for common ground" at the final meeting to prepare for the conference.

The BBC's Fergus Nicoll said that the Europeans and Africans would probably be able to work out a compromise on wording, perhaps calling present-day human trafficking a crime.

The US and European countries claim that it may be more difficult to reach consensus over compensation.

The US has threatened to withdraw funding for the conference if it includes a call for reparations. More``xMember``x``xSlavery is a crime against humanity!``x990514800,79329,History4``x``x ``xBy Shelagh Simmons

At a time when support for the death penalty has declined in the United States, Timothy James McVeigh poses perhaps the greatest challenge yet for the abolitionist movement. He has admitted planting the bomb that left 168 people dead in the Alfred P Murrah federal building, Oklahoma City. He has shown no remorse. And he has referred to the 19 children killed as "collateral damage".

Even some opponents of capital punishment say they could make an exception for McVeigh. And among the relatives who lost loved ones in the atrocity, there is disagreement. Some want him dead, believing it will bring what is often promised but rarely delivered - "closure". Some want him to live in the hope he may repent. But others want him spared simply because they do not believe in judicial killing. More``xMember``x``xMcVeigh Test for Abolitionists``x990687600,57891,History4``x``x ``xOne of Germany's most popular news magazines, Der Stern, has published a savage critique of modern-day Britain - describing pockets of abject poverty, a decrepit health service and school system, a disorganised civil service and bungling politicians.

Britain has been branded a country in "deep crisis" by Der Stern, which describes it as a country blighted by ill health, poor education and an incompetent government.

The 12-page article in current affairs magazine Stern, which sells around one million copies a week, paints a damning portrait of modern Britain under the title of The English Patient. More``xMember``x``xA Stern View of Britain``x990687600,24929,History4``x``x ``xBy Tim Wise

I think it's called 'projection.' When someone subconsciously realizes that a particular trait applies to them, and then attempts to locate that trait in others, so as to alleviate the stigma or self-doubt engendered by the trait in question.

It's a well-understood concept of modern psychology, and explains much: like why men who are struggling with their own sexuality are often the most outwardly homophobic. Or the way whites during slavery typified black men as rapists, even though the primary rapists were the white slaveowners themselves, taking liberties with their female property, or white men generally, raping their wives with impunity.

I got to thinking about projection recently, after receiving many an angry e-mail from folks who had read one or another of my previous commentaries, and felt the need to inform me that people of color are "looking for a handout," and are "dependent" on government, and of course, whites.

Such claims are making the rounds these days, especially as debate heats up about such issues as reparations for enslavement, or affirmative action. And this critique is a prime example of projection, for in truth, no people have been as dependent on others throughout history as white folks. More``xMember``x``xBreaking The Cycle Of White Dependence``x990774000,61113,History4``x``x ``xBy Paul Majendie

HAY-ON-WYE, Wales (Reuters) - We are all descended from the 33 daughters of Eve. Just take a swab from your cheek and you can find which one is your original ancestor.

That is the view of Professor Bryan Sykes, one of the world's top geneticists who has spent the last decade mapping out where we come from.

"Your genes have been through a fantastic journey," he told Britain's leading literary festival Tuesday in the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye where he laid out a fascinating DNA pathway to the past.

Now, after opening such a fascinating Pandora's Box, he has found that thousands of people around the world, from the United States to South Africa, are consumed with curiosity and want to find out who their original "clan mother" is.

"There are roughly 33 equivalent clusters if you take the whole world. Eventually it all comes down to Mitochondrial Eve in Africa 200,000 years ago," he added.

"This shows how closely connected we all are," he said More``xMember``x``xWe Descended From 33 Daughters of Eve in Africa ``x991206000,4763,History4``x``x ``xBy Richard Waddington

African rights activists said on Thursday they would press a world conference against racism to declare slavery and colonialism "a double Holocaust" and would call for compensation from former colonial powers.

Compensation from countries active in the then legal slave trade of the 17th and 19th centuries, such as France, Britain, Portugal and the United States, could take the form of aid for development, they said.

Speaking for African non-governmental organizations, Alioune Tine of Senegal, said the impact of colonialism was one of the prime causes of Africa's economic backwardness today.

He told a news conference: "We invite the world conference to declare without hesitation that slavery and colonialism are a double Holocaust and crimes against the humanity of African peoples."

International non-governmental organizations (NGO) are meeting in Geneva to prepare a common position to take to a United Nations (news - web sites) "World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance" to be held in Durban, South Africa from August 31-September 7. More``xEditor``xeditor@trinicenter.com``xActivists Want Slavery Called African 'Holocaust'``x991378800,51516,History4``x``x ``xBy Brenda Sutton

Recently, I broke away from the chemical plantation, releasing the thirty-year shackles that enslaved my pocketbook and consciousness---the previous thirteen years, my mother fried my hair with Dixie Peach hair grease and a straightening comb.

Many African Americans' perceptions of style and beauty manifest into self-hatred behavior against our natural state by slapping chemicals onto our hair. My natural hair was perceived as too thick, too curly, too bushy, time consuming, maintenance intensive and restricted my hair style choices. Such perceptions disguised true beauty with materialistic values. On the contrary, natural hair personifies natural beauty.

This liberating epiphany has resulted in freedom from all day sojourns to the beauty parlor and most importantly reduced health risks from chemical exposure [e.g. curling irons and burnt scalp to name a few]. More``xMember``x``xReclaiming My Roots ``x991897200,1629,History4``x``x ``xBy Dr. Iniyan Elango

Hinduism espouses the division of people into hierarchically placed groups called "castes". These castes are placed in a stepladder of ascending superiority and descending inferiority. People who are born into these castes should follow the ordained caste professions and marry only within their caste through arranged marriages. The beneficiaries of this system were the various Brahman castes who by virtue of their birth were free to follow intellectual pursuits at the advent of British colonial education making them modern India's intellectual, scientific, and bureaucratic class.

The various "Vysya" (trading) castes, placed below the Brahman castes and the Royal ("Kshatriya") castes, have enjoyed the monopoly in trading activities for centuries, by virtue of their birth, thus becoming modern India's corporate and business class.

The "Shudras" are the various lower castes in the hierarchy who are considered as Hindus and members of caste Hindu society.

The "Dalits" (meaning "broken people) are the "outcasts" and "slaves" of the Hindu society of hierarchical castes. That is why the Dalit people are considered untouchable and made to live in segregated colonies outside the towns and villages where the caste Hindus live. More``xEditor``xeditor@trinicenter.com``xA victim of Hindu bigotry``x992156400,39355,History4``x``x ``x"One of the most amazing things about solar flares," says Brian Dennis of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, "is the efficient way they accelerate subatomic particles to energies exceeding 109 eV." As much as 50% of the total explosion energy emerges as electrons and atomic nuclei traveling at nearly the speed of light. "Flares operate much more efficiently than any particle accelerator we've been able to build here on Earth." More``xamon``xeditor@trinicenter.com``xAmazing things about solar flares``x992395515,14245,History4``x``x ``xSource: University Of Washington (http://www.washington.edu/)
Date: Posted 6/12/2001

About one-third of the people who were exposed to a fake print advertisement that described a visit to Disneyland and how they met and shook hands with Bugs Bunny later said they remembered or knew the event happened to them.
The scenario described in the ad never occurred because Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros. cartoon character and wouldn't be featured in any Walt Disney Co. property, according to University of Washington memory researchers Jacquie Pickrell and Elizabeth Loftus. Pickrell will make two presentations on the topic at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society (APS) on Sunday (June 17) in Toronto and at a satellite session of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition in Kingston, Ontario, on Wednesday.

"The frightening thing about this study is that it suggests how easily a false memory can be created," said Pickrell, UW psychology doctoral student.

"It's not only people who go to a therapist who might implant a false memory or those who witness an accident and whose memory can be distorted who can have a false memory. Memory is very vulnerable and malleable. People are not always aware of the choices they make. This study shows the power of subtle association changes on memory." MORE``xamon``xeditor@trinicenter.com``xHow easily a false memory can be created``x992428391,43783,History4``x``x ``xSource: Renee
Date: Posted 6/12/2001

Greetings,

Very interestiong article..but I am not surprised or amazed at the ease of how "false memories" can be created.

Some Africans have to look no further than themselves to understand this ease of transformation of the mind and how it can be exposed with false events.

Many Africans have been exposed or implanted with a history that does not belong to us and some are living, thinking and responding from an Europeanized point of view without being aware of their behaviors and attitudes. Europeans have also been exposed to these "false memories" which allows most to believe that they are superior over all people of color (white supremacy). More at the Online Forum``xamon``xeditor@trinicenter.com``xHow "false memories" can be created``x992429156,44115,History4``x``x ``xJune 13th, 2001
By Joey Clarke

If there's one clear feature of T&T's social structure, it's that we are racially conscious, and in all the wrong ways. We are so far from HIM Sellassie's ideal where someone's race "is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes."; We have been so mentally tangled and mangled by ourselves as well as by those who imported us, that a lot of people don't even realize how racist they are. It's easy to spot people who openly attribute their bad attitude to the sins and follies of "the other", but there are other forms of racial prejudice that are harder to spot.

Hypocrisy is the problem here. Sometimes it's unintentional, and comes from having not thought things through, or from not having looked critically enough at one's self. Here are a few types i would class as hypocritical racists, as a guide to those who may not spot it at first. More``xBobby``xbobby@trinicenter.com``xSheep in Wolves’ Clothing``x992442210,12014,History4``x``x ``xFrom super-sized drinks to SUVs to big-screen TVs, cineplexes and houses in the suburbs - even Americans themselves - just about everything in the United States has been getting steadily larger. Even churches. MORE``xBrenda``xbrenda@trinicenter.com``xMega-Churches Grow Bigger and Bigger``x992444900,84117,History4``x``x ``xBy: Kirk Moss

It has been mentioned several times before, and became a heated topic that fueled the Pan-African movement during the 1960's. A time when various African countries were shaking their colonial oppressors off their backs, and becoming independent nations. They were consequently starting from ground zero. But today, the United States of Africa is still a burning issue that is been raised within the context of reparations and repatriation.

This cohesiveness is the key to the survival of African Peoples as a Race and an entity of the Human Family. Presently, we are the illegitimate children of the Human planet, who were kidnapped from our homelands, and our continental families have been subdued into impoverishment. This paradigm of the United States of Africa must begin with a rigorous overhaul of our motherland in order to form a solid distinctive cultural foundation. First, Economic Power. With this unity of African States comes the economic Power to fight white supremacy and capitalist conglomerates on a global and local level. It would prevent Africa as a continent, and individual African countries from falling prey to various forms of economic stagnation. In particular, embargoes or trade sanctions initiated by the neo-colonial and imperialist powers of Europe and the Western capitalist societies. This opens the door to a new sense of self-reliance, a fundamental principle that Marcus Garvey, the great Jamaican Pan-Africanist, profoundly expressed. More``xEditor``xeditor@trinicenter.com``xThe United States of Africa!``x992566695,61409,History4``x``x ``x(The Ind. Standard)

The demand for cell phones and computer chips is helping fuel a bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The offer turned up a few weeks ago on an Internet bulletin board called the Embassy Network. Among the postings about Dutch work visas and Italian pen pals lurked a surprisingly blunt proposal: "How much do you want to offer per kilogram? Please find me at least 100,000 U.S. dollars and I will deliver immediately."
The substance for sale wasn't cocaine or top-grade opium. It was an ore called Columbite-tantalite - coltan for short - one of the world's most sought-after materials. Refine coltan and you get a highly heat-resistant metal powder called tantalum. It sells for $100 a pound, and it's becoming increasingly vital to modern life. For the high-tech industry, tantalum is magic dust, a key component in everything from mobile phones made by Nokia (NOK) and Ericsson and computer chips from Intel (INTC) to Sony (SNE) stereos and VCRs.

Selling coltan is not illegal. Most of the worldwide tantalum supply - valued at as much as $6 billion a year - comes from legitimate mining operations in Australia, Canada and Brazil. But as demand for tantalum took off with the boom of high-tech products in recent years, a new, more sinister market began flourishing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There, warring rebel groups - many funded and supplied by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda - are exploiting coltan mining to help finance a bloody civil war now in its third year. "There is a direct link between human rights abuses and the exploitation of resources in areas in the DRC occupied by Rwanda and Uganda," says Suliman Baldo, a senior researcher in the Africa division at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based nongovernmental organization that tracks human-rights abuses worldwide. More ``xMember``x``xCongo - Guns, Money and Cell Phones``x992614105,33608,History4``x``x ``xBy: Brenda Sutton

I begin writing this dialogue in doubt, what are my credentials? Am I an expert in spiritual growth? I can only speak about my journey, unique to my experience. I am reminded that when in obedience with one's spiritual destiny that knowledge will become awaken in one's Spirit. I feel like my soul is being fine-tuned for my tremendous journey through life experiences. Experiences of this present life, but more importantly those of my ancestors who will use my physical form as a conduit. Grandmother Rosie, Big Moma, Buerena and all the other souls who have merged with this soul, sharing pearls of wisdom to all those who listen. The Bible tells us that some are self-appointed but few are chosen. I have been chosen to contribute my energy to uplift humankind; it is my duty. Running from my destiny, does not diminish the task, it places my life in more spiritual turmoil and physical headaches. More ``xMember``x``xDialogue on Spirit...``x992629394,54570,History4``x``x ``xBy Dr. Kwame Nantambu
1. The stark historical reality is that during the B.C. era when the Emperor of Rome, Julius Caesar, had a sexual liaison with the ruler of Kemet (Egypt), Queen Cleopatra VII, a son named Caesarion was born on 23 June 47 B.C. in Kemet as a result of that sexual encounter. However, what is historically vital and relevant is that the birth of this boy child, Caesarion, was not a natural birth. In other words, the High Priests of ancient Kemet had to perform a special surgical procedure to deliver Caesarion; this surgical procedure that the ancient Egyptian High Priests/physicians performed in 47 B.C. to deliver Caesarion is what is called the “Caesarean Section” in modern A.D. medicine today. The ancient Egyptian High Priests named their medical procedure in honor of Caesarion’s father, Caesar. More``xMember``x``xHistorical Facts about ancient & modern Afrikans ``x992660809,81435,History4``x``x ``xBy Dr. Kwame Nantambu
When Wellesley College, Boston, Mass, U.S.A., Professor, Mary Lefkowitz published in her book, Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History, (1996), she received tremendous accolades and widespread newsprint from mainstream America. The notion that was bandied about was that finally a renowned experienced Eurocentric scholar has quieted the proponents of Afrocentrism; Dr. Mary Lefkowitz has destroyed the Afrocentrists’ claim to the multifaceted originality of ancient Kemet (Egypt) and its impact on Greece and Rome. However, a much deeper, closer and sober look and analysis of this hysteria reveals a different historical reality.

The salient reality is that no one can deny the historical truism that the Greeks (the world’s first Europeans) went to ancient Kemet to study at the Temple of Waset (later called Thebes by the Greeks and Luxor by the Arabs).

In his magnum opus, A Lost Tradition: African Philosophy in World History, (1995) Dr. Theophile Obenga quotes Aristotle ranking Egypt as “the most ancient archeological reserve in the world” and “that is how the Egyptians, whom we (Greeks) considered as the most ancient of the human race” More``xMember``x``xAncient Egypt's Role in European History ``x992661268,42504,History4``x``x ``xBy Dr. Kwame Nantambu
When in June 1997, Rep. Tony Hall, a Dayton, Ohio Democrat, proposed a national apology by the U.S. government for slavery, mixed public response and/or reaction followed together with some skepticism as to the apology's real intent. For his part, President Clinton has not only put the slavery apology question under consideration but has also adamantly opposed any compensation/reparations for the descendants of those slaves, viz, African-Americans.

Let's now put the institution of slavery in its proper historical context in order to get a more appropriate handle as to exactly who should apologize for this global inhumanity to man.

The first slaves were brought to Portugal in 1441 and this traffic and trade in gold, pepper and ivory, were so lucrative that Castilian (Spanish) sailors began to follow the Portuguese lead in 1453 along the west coast of Africa in search of slaves and financial wealth. It was to overt the danger of fierce competition and possibly war between these two European global powers (Spain and Portugal) that Papal sanction was sought for a Portuguese monopoly. And so it was that on 8 January 1455, the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Nicholas V, issued a Papal Bull titled Romanus Pontifex in which he authorized the Portuguese “to subject to servitude, all infidel peoples”. In another Papal Bull, Inter Caetera issued on 13 March 1456, Pope Nicholas V “granted to Prince Henry, as Grand Master, of the Order of Christ in Portugal, all lands (and peoples) discovered or conquered form Cape Bojafor, in Africa, to and including the Indies.” More``xMember``x``xQuestion of Apology for Slavery: Global View ``x992661544,99760,History4``x``x ``xBy Time Wise
Let me get this straight: if three white guys chain a black man to a truck and decapitate him by dragging him down a dirt road, that's a hate crime; but if five white cops pump nineteen bullets into a black street vendor, having shot at him 41 times, that's just "bad judgment?" And what's more, we should pass hate crime laws that require enforcement by the police? Call me crazy, but something about this brings to mind the one about the foxes and the henhouse.

Now don't misunderstand: I realize there are horrible acts of violence perpetrated every day in America against people of color, not to mention gays and lesbians, women, and religious minorities. And I have no problem in principle with passing special laws to send a message that such hatred won't be tolerated. But is this really the point? Does it do anything to address the larger issues of racism, sexism, or homophobia that plague our society? And will it save Amadou Diallo, or prevent Abner Louima from getting a toilet plunger shoved up his ass by bigots in blue uniforms? Of course not. Hate crime laws make us feel better. But in the end, the biggest injuries suffered by people of color continue: job and housing discrimination; unequal access to health care; and the development of a prison-industrial- complex that is locking up black and brown people faster than you can say "three-strikes-and-you're-out;" all of which could and would persist, even if there was never another cross-burning on a black family's lawn, or another violent assault on an immigrant.

And this is what's wrong with the "national dialogue on race," as our therapist-in-chief calls it. It only takes place in a comfort zone where pretty much everyone can agree. More``xMember``x``xEveryday Racism, White Liberals & the Limits of Tolerance``x992847600,41686,History4``x``x ``x(BBC) Everything from liking rollercoasters to attitudes to the death penalty is influenced by our genes, say researchers.

A study carried out on twins has found differences in certain attitudes are partly due to genetic influences. Although attitudes are learnt, scientists in Canada believe individual differences may arise, at least in part, because of our genetic makeup.

Scientists in Canada surveyed 360 pairs of twins and looked at their attitudes to a wide range of issues - from reading to the death penalty for murder. Out of the 30 attitudes studied, 26 of them appeared to be under some genetic influence.

The death penalty, abortion, playing organised sport and rollercoaster rides were the ones that appeared to be most influenced by genes. The four found not to be subject to a genetic effect were attitudes towards separate roles for men and women, playing bingo, easy access to birth control, and being assertive.

There appeared to be trends in the study's findings. For instance, genetically inherited attitudes were most likely to be associated with the preservation of life, equality and exercise, while those with the least influence were intellectual activities like playing chess and reading. There is doubt, though, that genes are directly involved in how we perceive things.

The authors, based at the University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia, believe it is much more likely that a complex relationship between genes, personality and physical appearance is involved in shaping our attitudes. "Presumably, these characteristics predisposed individuals to form particular kinds of attitudes, thereby contributing to the genetic determination of individual differences in those attitudes," said Dr James Olson and colleagues. He said: "For example, a person with inherited physical abilities such as good coordination and strength might be more successful at sports than less athletically inclined individuals, resulting in the more athletic person developing favourable attitudes to sport." MORE``xMember``x``xMany attitudes 'in our genes'``x992880410,94435,History4``x``x ``xBy Selwyn Cudjoe
A lecture delivered to the Japanese Black Studies
Association at Nara Women's College, Nara, Japan
In a wondrous introduction to Party Politics in the West Indies, C. L. R. James, one of the most distinguished thinkers of the modern Caribbean, made the following statement about the people of the Anglophone Caribbean: "People of the West Indies, you do not know your own power. No one dares to tell you. You are a strange, a unique combination of the greatest driving force in the world today, the underdeveloped formerly colonial coloured peoples; and more than any of them, by education, way of life and language, you are completely part of Western civilization. Alone of all people in the world you began your historical existence in a highly developed modern society-the sugar plantation. More``xmeri``x``xIdentity and Caribbean Literature``x993360084,63201,History4``x``x ``x(www.namesite.com) Africa is a vast continent three times the size of the United Sates with over fifty countries and 1000 different ethnic groups or peoples and languages. All these peoples have different personal names in use in their cultures. As you can imagine there are a huge number of African names, ranging from those with Arabic roots and derivation in the northern parts of Africa to those of European origin to indigenous, African names through out the continent. As such we can not have every possible African name on the list.
Moreover we include in the list only names with meanings. There are many African names without meanings, simply because the original meaning is long forgotten or possibly did not exist in the first place. namesite.com | zoope.com | Naming Ga Children | Swagga.com | South African ``xmeri``x``xAfrican Names``x993423495,41100,History4``x``x ``xFrom: Renee

(Self-Development Forum) More and more Africans are turning to the illegall use of skin whitening creams. Many think that it is the ticket to upward mobility, socially and professionally - despite the countless health risk involved. Some Africans even believe that, "When you are lighter, people pay more attention to you." (Please read "YELLOW FEVER" AND "THEM A BLEACH" )

Are Africans trying to hang on to something that they can never become, WHITE?
______________________________________________________________

From: Gilbert Browne

Renee, they are not necessarily "...trying to hang on ....." just desperate to get close. This goes hand in hand with an interesting resurgence of that group in T&T called 'RED" people. The nearer one is to white is the more self important one can feel. Certainly access to the better jobs etc are in the offing and in addition one can assume a superiority over the black skinned ones. Parents are known to speak of 'wanting some milk in the coffee' when speaking of a mate for their darker skinned children.

40+ years after so called independence these conditions still largely apply in T&T and elsewhere in the region and is compounded by the latest wave - 'indian time now' - in T&T. The bleaching creams merely constitute the outward manifestations of a capitulation by some. The shade & class segmentation has been ingrained in this society. A RED woman/man would hardly give a darkskinned suitor of lower standing the time of day. Some dark skinned graduates of the UWI talk glibly of marrying 'up'. It used to amuse me living in Canada in the 70's & 80's to see how the same RED people would hook up with dark skinned persons out of sheer need. They no longer had the numbers at their disposal and by and large the whites were not interested.

Let us try to explain and understand what is at the root of our self - contempt. What is responsible for African Americans or West Indian Americans who are hardly the movers and shakers in the Northern situation immediately donning a mantle of superiority when they hit the black 3rd world countries? In such cases residence in a more powerful country often becomes a badge.

Given this urge to feel better about oneself and the sense that better days are never coming - so join them. Since the light skinned ones are making it go that route. Know of a PNM politician, big in the east-west corridor, who keeps his office temp 70 F and lower and rarely goes out into the sun without an umbrella. Thing he knows something about the shade game?
``xmeri``x``xShades Of Identity Crisis``x993666142,60503,History4``x``x ``xResponse: Anthony

(Self-Development Forum) Bleaching is an important example of the problems that confront modern human societies. It is good to recognize a problem because this is the first step to solving it. From my experience finding solutions to problems can be very difficult. Most approaches will minimize a problem but not solve it. I will define a behavior as being a problem to me if it inhibits me from participating in other available activities that will be more beneficial in helping me to understand myself. If I think that a certain activity is a problem, I will then consider the problem to be solved when I no longer feel a need to participate in that activity.

The action of the food and drug administration to control the dosage and availability of bleaching agents may minimize the problem but this action does not address people's need to use bleaching agents. Similarly the ban placed on bleaching substances by the some governments will only minimize the problem.

In my view a lasting solution to this problem lies in addressing the factors that cause people to accept the idea that it is better to be white than black. There are many institutions in modern societies that promote discrimination based on skin color, for example, the general media and the education offered by most schools. Many people are unable to recognize the ways in which the general media and schools promote racism. However in my view people get an unbalanced view of the world when the general media and schools promote the views and culture of one group of people while ignoring, minimizing or distorting the contributions of other groups to world history.

Therefore in my view an important step to solving this bleaching problem involve efforts to obtain more balance in school education and greater balance in the information reported by the general media. It is also my view that balanced media reporting and education will help to solve many other problems that plague modern societies.
``xmeri``x``xSkin Bleaching``x993705599,70952,History4``x``x ``xNEW YORK (NNPA)--Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was in top form on Wednesday as he spoke at Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit.

"Will you accept your responsibility as a leader and a teacher?" he asked of the several hundred artists and record industry insiders as they listened intently to his two-hour speech, giving loud applause, enthusiastic hollers and ovations more suited to a sold-out concert.

As close to 100 members of the media recorded his every word, the minister implored the rappers before him to analyze their roles. He asked them to lead and teach and to understand the power in their hands and the global impact that their lyrics have. More
Russell Simmons And Farrakhan Discuss Powerful
Genre's Next Agenda at Hip-Hop Conference``xmeri``x``xFarrakhan Talks Rap, Responsibility And Revolution ``x993711600,49996,History4``x``x ``xResponse: Renee

(Self-Development Forum) I truly understand that there are many different levels of self- hatred being displayed by many Africans and skin bleaching is one form of self-hatred that really begins to tell a story of how massive and wide spread the Europeans value system has infiltrated the African psyche. I am sure that many may not even be aware of the levels of self-hatred that many are obviously displaying and I can only say that they may not be aware, because I was not aware of some of the "false memories" which leads to "false attitudes" which keeps descending to "false behaviours" that I was/am displaying until more conscious individuals pointed them out. That is why it is of vital importance to dialogue and share different points of view so that all may have an opportunity to learn and grow.

Are all Africans that straighten their hair trying to be white…well we must all remember that Africans have various hair textures: from kinky (kingly), to curly, to wavy hair and also straight hair. Many Africans have made a choice to wear their hair natural…does this mean that because you wear your hair natural that you are the best example of what a true African is? What about the Clarence Thomas's and the Colin Powell's of this world, they wear their hair in its natural state and they have not decided to bleach their skins, however the conditions of their minds have been "white washed" and "bleached" I dare not make a comparison on who is in the worse or better state". Africans who choose to bleach externally or those who choose to bleach internally; it is a known fact that our very minds are in a state of disrepair and in need of an immediate upgrade.

And I have not lost sight of a persons right to choose to straighten or not to straighten their hair. People should do things that makes oneself happy, however I am sure when people obtain more information about a particular subject or a particular action (skin bleaching) then hopefully people will be able to make better choices.

The struggle continues...
``xmeri``x``xShades Of Identity Crisis``x993816554,70253,History4``x``x ``xResponse: Heather

(Self-Development Forum) It is not only Black people who are trying to look like the advertised image of White beauty. Contrary to popular belief, most Whites do not look like what is popularly portrayed in the media. Recently I saw them advertising White skin lighteners to White people, and lets not forget the phenomenal sales of blonde dye.
Also check how many of them are "dying" from bulimia and anorexia.
I guess White people are also "dying" to be "White".
``xmeri``x``xShades Of Identity Crisis``x993821244,15490,History4``x``x ``xWASHINGTON (NNPA)--At a packed and heated forum that scorched two of her White House colleagues, a Black U.S. State Department official said she will ask the Bush administration for a $3 million allocation toward the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7.

Debra Carr, chair of the U.S. Interagency Task Force on the conference, made the commitment during a heated Congressional Black Caucus roundtable last week, chaired by Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), who heads the CBC task force on WCAR. More``xmeri``x``xBush Aide Promises To Seek $3 Million For U.N. Race Conference``x994020557,37228,History4``x``x ``xFrederick Douglass || 5th July 1852
Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country school houses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. More ``xmeri``x``xWhat to the Slave is the Fourth of July?``x994231559,69066,History4``x``x ``x(Kwame Nantambu) At the outset, it must be stated quite clearly that we Afrikan people, are the original, majority people with original ideas. Europeans are only an inherited, transmitting global minority people. Europeans did not invent, create or discover culture nor civilisation; they just inherited them and in some cases, stole them. Afrikans never lived in caves and in the icebox during the Ice Age for 20,000 years.

The bottom line is that Afrikans are the ancestors of Europeans. We created them, according to scientific research of the modern-day Imhotep, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop in terms of the origin of humankind. These Afrikans who left Mother Afrika with their melanin intact to populate the world and with Black skin, large nose, big/thick lips, Black wooly hair, large-broad nostrils etc, got caught in the ice and lost everything. As a result of having to adapt to this new cold glacial environment, their Black skin then became white, nostrils became small and narrow, lips became thin, etc; they became white. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xColumbus & the falsification of history``x995072470,27322,History4``x``x ``x(Washington Post) The recent Post series documenting Prince George's County police as among the most brutal in the nation exposes a long-hidden truth: A racially diverse police force under the command of black elected officials is no guarantee against police violence.

The notion that racial diversity is the key to fighting police brutality has deep historical roots. In the wake of riots across American inner-cities in the 1960s, the Kerner Commission called for "increased Negro participation in police departments" because "for police in a Negro community to be predominately white can serve as a dangerous irritant."

But in Prince George's County, where the police force killed more people during the past decade than any police force in America, and where no officer during that time has been fired or demoted for shooting somebody, the police department is 41 percent African American. Moreover, the county that has become known as America's wealthiest black suburb has a black county executive and chief prosecutor. Nor is Prince George's alone: In recent years Los Angeles, Detroit and Washington all have suffered police misconduct scandals. Yet each of these cities has either significant black leadership or police force representation. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xDiversity Alone Won't Stop Police Violence``x995238033,16631,History4``x``x ``x(Ras Jahaziel) As a people who have been THE WHITE MAN'S PROPERTY for so very long, we have grown accustomed to searching for "GOD" through other people's eyes. If it is not the white man's eyes, it has been the Arab's, the Chinese or the Indian's eyes. This idea that "spirituality" means soaking up the White man's, the Indian's, the Chinese or the Arab's ideas, is all part and parcel of our own degraded sense of self-hood.

When we rediscover and resurrect an appreciation for ourselves as THAT UNIQUE PEOPLE OF CREATION WHO HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH THE WOOLEN CROWN OF HAIR, we will find a greater link with the God that we have been seeking so vainly for so very long. It is only within our own image that we as a people will find our God. Never through any other people's eyes. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xClarifying The Concept Of "Spirituality"``x995262613,68212,History4``x``x ``x(Dr Kwame Nantambu) This writer argues that through their control of the global media apparatus and scholarship, Europeans have been able to portray themselves as the only creators of world history and to present themselves as the original peoples with original ideas.

In the process, the contributions and achievements of Afrikan people have been relegated to the ashheap of history. In reality then, HIS-STORY or His-Eurocentric version or interpretation of world events and history has been the prime mover in the thought process of the Eurocentric world view.

This analysis argues that since the 15th century, ethnocentrism (lack of tolerance of other cultures), etnocentrism (lack of tolerance of other races) and xenophobia (fear of other races) have conditioned, fashioned and determined the mind-set, attitude and thought process of Europeans towards Afrikan peoples. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xImpact of Eurocentric Thought Process``x995413454,84551,History4``x``x ``xThe activist campaign demanding payment of "slavery reparations" to today's black Americans probably strikes some readers as too far-fetched to take seriously. Better stop and look afresh. I myself realized that the concept had moved beyond faculty lounges, radical salons, and afrocentric pamphlets and into the realm of serious political struggle when I looked over the roster of a legal group convened to plot practical strategy for winning such compensation. It included not only DreamTeamer Johnny Cochran, Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, and other ideologically predictable backers, but also one Richard J. Scruggs. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xHas the Debt Been Paid? ``x995473419,82485,History4``x``x ``xJanuary 05 2000

A special feature by Charles Finch, M.D. Chairman, Dept. of International Medicine, The Morehouse School of Medicine

It has become increasingly clear that traditional African cultures and civilizations knew and accomplished much more than has traditionally been assumed. Even after we've "restored" ancient Egypt - a civilization that was the fountainhead of science - to its true and natural place on African soil as an African creation, there is yet a profound reluctance to admit that Africa contributed anything of substance to world science.

In this article, the author hopes to show that traditional African physicians evolved effective - even sophisticated - diagnostic and therapeutic modalities in medicine which belie the notion that Africa was without a medical science.

Just as any discussion of the achievements of Western medicine harkens back to Hippocrates and Galen, so any discussion of African medical achievements harkens back to ancient Egypt. Newsome, among others, has shown what a debt Greek medicine owed to the priest-physicians of Egypt.(1) Not only was the most important Greek healing deity, Asclepios, identified with the legendary Egyptian physician-architect-aphorist Imhotep but Hippocratic therapeutics had direct antecedents in Egyptian medicine. The city-state of Athens used to import Egyptian physicians, as did most of the kingdoms of the Near East, and in the Odyssey, Homer says, "In medical knowledge, Egypt leaves the rest of the world behind."(2)

Like all African medicine, Egyptian medicine has baffled scholars because of the complete interpenetration of "magico-spiritual" and "rational" elements. Mostly, this magico-spiritual aspect has been downplayed or belittled. However, at least one researcher concedes that healing, being a complicated psychic as well as physical process, may be amenable to an approach that touches that hidden area of the psyche beyond the reach of rational therapy.(3) Even modern medicine concedes that as much as 60% of illness has a psychic base and indeed, the well-known "placebo" effect of modern pharmaco-medicine arises from this.(4) We moderns like to deride this magico-spiritual medicine but it can and does produce startling results that we do not understand.

The Egyptians were writing medical textbooks as early as 5,000 years ago.(5) This indicates not only a mature civilization but also a long period of medical development. Out of the hundreds and thousands of medical papyri that must have been written, only 10 have come down to us, the most important being the Ebers and Edwin Smith Papyri. These 10 papyri form the basis of most of what Egyptologists know about Egyptian medicine. It has been affirmed, however, that much of the training and instruction of the healing priests must have been orally transmitted, as it is in the rest of Africa.(6) It is likely, therefore, that we have only a partial grasp of the true scope of Egyptian medical knowledge. Moreover, like their counterparts in the rest of Africa, the Egyptian priest-physicians often kept their best knowledge secret.

Egyptian physicians were instructed in the "per ankh" or "house of life" which served as a university, library, medical school, clinic, temple, and seminary. The numerous Greek philosophers who studied in Egypt, such as Pythagorous, Thales, and Plato, must have spent their time in a per ankh. In these centers of learning, there was no sharp demarcation between the fields of study; religion, philosophy, science, astronomy, mathematics, music, and hieroglyphics were all part of the same species of knowledge and were reflected in one another.

It is of interest that the Egyptians were alone among the nations of antiquity in the development of specialty medicine. In the Old Kingdom, the diseases of each organ were under the care of a specialist. In the later epochs, the specialists disappeared as the Egyptian physician began to function as a generalist. However, during Ptolemaic times, specialization came back into the vogue, probably as a result of renewed interest in the archaic culture. Not until the 20th century did anything comparable in the sphere of medicine develop. Contemporary doctors are accustomed to believing that modern specialty medicine resulted from a progressive evolution of medical techniques and knowledge, hardly realizing that it is a throw back to the earliest form of Egyptian medical practice.

A study of ancient Egyptian diagnostic methods reads disconcertingly like a modern textbook on physical diagnosis. A physician summoned to examine a patient would begin with a careful appraisal of the patient's general appearance. This would be followed by a series of questions to elicit a description of the complaint. The color of the face and eyes, the quality of nasal secretions, the presence of perspiration, the stiffness of the limbs or abdomen, and the condition of the skin were all carefully noted. The physician was also at pains to take cognizance of the smell of the body, sweat, breath, and wounds. The urine and feces were inspected, the pulse palpated and measured, and the abdomen, swellings, and wounds probed and palpated. The pulse taking is worth noting because it indicates that the Egyptians knew of its circulatory and hemodynamic significance. Percussion of the abdomen and chest was performed and certain functional tests we still use today were done, i.e., the coughing test for hernia detection; the extension-flexion maneuver of the legs to test for a dislocated lumbar vertebra. Sometimes, the case required more than one consultation and the physician might, as is done today, embark on a "therapeutic trial" to ascertain the efficacy of treatment. It also seems that the Egyptians practiced a form of socialized medicine. All physicians were employees of the state and medical care was available to everyone.(7)

The extant medical papyri show us that the Egyptians had quite an extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology. They understood the importance of pulsation and - 4500 years before Harvey - knew something of the structure and function of the cardiovascular system. They knew that the heart was the center of this system, had names for all the major vessels, knew the relation between heart and lung, and knew the distribution of the vessels through the limbs.(8) They had names for the brain and meninges (the covering of the brain and spinal cord) and also seem to have known the relation between the nervous system and voluntary movements. In addition, the ureters (the connections between the kidneys and the bladder) were known and named. Most writers state that the Egyptians’ anatomical knowledge while relatively sophisticated, was, by modern standards, rudimentary. They aver, for example, that the Egyptians attached no special significance to the brain.(9) But at least one researcher, utilizing sources entirely different from the papyri, contradicts this notion, asserting that their knowledge of neuroanatomy in particular was as detailed and advanced as that in modern times.(10)

The Egyptians were well-versed in many pathological syndromes. The identification of a disease syndrome necessitates acute and painstaking clinical observation, often over many years, and many of the ones described in the medical papyri are known today. Egyptian physicians understood the origin of paraplegia and paralysis from spinal cord injuries and recognized the traumatic origin of neurological symptoms such as deafness, urinary incontinence, and priapism. They described many syndromes of cardiac origin. They knew that excess blood in the heart and lungs was pathological which is consistent with what we know about congestive heart failure today. They also seem to have recognized the significance of heart palpitations and arrhythmias and gave a rather precise definition of angina pectoris:

"If thou examinest a man for illness in his cardia and he has pains in his arms, in his breast, and on one side of his cardia...it is death threatening him."(ll)

The modern description of angina pectoris can hardly improve upon this. The phrase seen in the Ebers Papyrus, "belly too narrow for food," seems to indicate an esophageal or stomach stricture perhaps from an inflammatory or ulcerating process. Egyptian physicians also knew that a weak heart adversely affected the liver, calling to mind the pathological enlargement of the liver which we know to be due to heart failure. Faintness due to a "dumb heart" was described which seems to be an allusion to a Stokes-Adams attack.(12) It is evident that the ancient Egyptian physicians had a fundamental grasp of the pathophysiology of many of the syndromes we know today.

Perhaps the most remarkable document among the medical papyri is the surgical Edwin Smith Papyrus, a compendium of Egyptian anatomical knowledge and surgical methods. It is in this papyrus that the remarkable descriptions of the traumatic surgical lesions and their treatment are found. We also find that the priest-physicians also recognized the signs and symptoms of sciatica, the sharp pain radiating down the leg caused by nerve compression in the lower spinal cord. Like many other peoples in Africa and the rest of the world, the Egyptians practiced trephination. (13) This operation, the forerunner of neurosurgery, involves boring a hole through the skull to the outer covering of the brain. This was done to remove fragments from a skull fracture compressing the brain, to treat epilepsy, or to relieve chronic headache. Today in Africa there are people who have undergone this operation with no apparent ill effects and there are skulls from ancient Egyptian graves with definite signs of healing around the trephination site so it is clear that patients survived this operation.

As is seen very commonly in Africa, there was a separate guild of bonesetters in Egypt who treated fractures and dislocations. These specialists devised a completely effective method for reducing collar bone fractures which Hippocrates later used. (14) The Edwin Smith Papyrus also describes maneuvers for reducing dislocated jaws and shoulders. Long bone fractures were immobilized with tight splints and nasal fractures were treated by the insertion of stiff nasal packings into the affected nostril, a method also used today for uncomplicated nasal fractures.

The Egyptians had perhaps 3-4 thousand years of experience dissecting and bandaging mummies and this must have had beneficial effects on surgical technique. They had an array of knives and scalpels to excise tumors and drain abscesses. They used red-hot metal instruments to seal off bleeding points and closed clean wounds with sutures or adhesive tape. They were unsurpassed as "bandagists" and used their techniques to control bleeding. Fresh meat was also used to stop oozing hemorrhage from surgical wounds. Like the ancient Chinese, they used molds from bread or cereals to treat wound infections. Modern penicillin was extracted from a mold so the priest-physicians must also have been aware of its bacteriacidal properties. (15)

Like all African peoples, the Egyptians had a large materia medica, using as many as 1000 animal, plant, and mineral products in the treatment of illness. Night blindness, caused by vitamin A deficiency, was treated with ox livers, known to be rich in vitamin A. Poppy extract - the source of opium - was used to treat colicky babies. Modern physicians use paregoric - whose active ingredient is opium - for exactly the same purpose. Patients with scurvy - caused by vitamin C deficiency - were fed onions, a known source of vitamin C. Castor seeds, the source of castor oil, were used to make cathartic preparations. Mandrake and henbane, sources of belladonna alkaloids, were also known and used. The belladonnas possess properties that stimulate the heart, decrease stomach motility, dilate the pupils, and cause sedation. The Egyptians dispensed their prescriptions as pills, enemas, suppositories, infusions, and elixirs in accurate, standardized doses causing some to wonder if they had separate pharmacies and pharmacists. (16)

The Egyptians were also quite knowledgeable in handling obstetric and gynecological problems. They knew and treated uterine prolapse. They had means of inducing abortions and preventing conception. They even had an effective pregnancy test! A sample of a woman's urine was sprinkled on growing cereals; if the cereals did not grow the woman was considered not pregnant; if they did grow she was declared pregnant. Modern experiments have shown that a pregnant woman's urine has a permissive effect on the growth of barley in about 40% of the case, demonstrating that there must have been some validity in the world's first pregnancy test. (17)

Our glimpse of the medical system of this ancient African civilization shows that it deserves its reputation as the best and most advanced of antiquity. Indeed, medicine as we know it today began in Egypt rather than Greece. A study of other African systems of medicine is more problematic, however, because of the absence of surviving written records. Thus, most of what we know comes from the testimony of European missionaries whose contemptuous view of traditional culture was most pointed when writing about traditional medical practices. Nonetheless, it can be shown that the best of the traditional healers in various parts of Africa acquired a startling level of proficiency and, contrary to contemporary opinion, were not without a medical science.

It is pertinent to remember that Africa has been subjected to centuries of almost continuous political, social, and cultural disruption and that - among cultures that rely heavily on oral transmission of knowledge - a tremendous amount of knowledge has been lost. Thus, the state of traditional medicine today does not reflect the best of what the traditional doctors knew and surviving fragments of eye-witness reports - as shall be shown - indicate that they knew quite a lot.

Like ancient Egypt, all traditional African cultures had a magico-spiritual conception of disease. Thus in this setting, moral, social, or spiritual transgressions are likely to lead to illness because they create both individual and communal disharmony. Without the psycho-spiritual cure - without re-establishing this sensitive harmony - the medicinal cure is considered useless. The traditional practitioner is intimately acquainted with the psychic, social, and cultural nuances of his people and more than one commentator has acknowledged that the traditional doctor is often an expert psychotherapist, achieving results with his patients that conventional Western psychotherapy cannot.

Though there is no single paradigm of medical practice that applies to all of Africa, many of the essential features of the various traditional systems are comparable and even identical. Among the Mano of Liberia, for example, all children's diseases, all obstetrics, all of the "everyday" complaints are handled by women, particularly the elderly women; surgery, bonesetting, and special diagnostic and therapeutic problems are handled almost exclusively by men. This is a pattern that repeats itself throughout Africa.

The approach to the patient can vary in different parts of Africa. In some societies, where the doctor is credited with paranormal insight, the physician may arrive at a diagnosis and prescribe treatment without questioning or examining the patient since he is supposed to know what is wrong by virtue of his special powers. However, other traditional doctors affect an approach toward physical diagnosis closer to our own:

"Many Western-trained doctors concede that the traditional medical experts have a profound knowledge of the human body and anatomy. This is demonstrated by a usually careful diagnosis beginning with a history of the disease followed by a thorough physical examination...He palpates the different parts and looks for tender spots. He feels the beating of the heart, the position of the inner organs, checks the eyes and ears, and smells the mouth for bad breath." (18)

Most commentators have disparaged the traditional doctor's knowledge of anatomy and physiology. The Mano, however, have names for most of the major organs and know the difference between normal and abnormal anatomy. (19) Another author notes that the Banyoro of Uganda, renowned in the last century for their surgical skill, had a wide knowledge of anatomy. (20) A Hausa maneuver to test for impotence has been described:

"An individual is stripped and placed on a mat lying on his back. A pin or thorn is lightly rubbed over the inside of his thigh. If the scrotum or testicles do not move, the individual is considered impotent."

There is a physiological basis for this procedure. The maneuver in effect tests the cremasteric reflex. The cremaster muscle contracts and pulls the testicles upward on stimulation of the inside of the thigh. (21) This passage belies the notion that African doctors were without a knowledge of some of the body's physiological processes. Moreover, Mano physicians - reputedly without an understanding of the body's cardiovascular system - knew that the conditions of anasarca and ascites were due to fluid overload and treated accordingly with diuretic preparations. These interesting fragments do not by themselves admit of a sophisticated anatomical or physiological knowledge but they hint at a greater degree of knowledge - perhaps in past ages - than has hitherto been recognized.

Some case studies of cultures in east-central Africa have brought to light some remarkable evidence revealing the presence of scientific medicine there. The practice of carrying out autopsies on patients dying of unknown causes among the Banyoro of Uganda and the Likundu of Central Africa has been described. Almost always these were carried out to detect a possible witchcraft etiology but may well have contributed to a more extensive knowledge of anatomy than previously supposed:

"The procedures for autopsying bodies under the Likundu culture have been reviewed, not for the purpose of considering the beliefs that impelled such procedures but to indicate that in some areas autopsies were frequently carried out and that they involved searching in the body, a search which might be casual and superficial but which in other cases might be prolonged and exacting and involved opening up and examining a variety of organs. These are precisely the circumstances under which considerable knowledge of anatomy and pathology could be acquired by persons who, for any purpose, might wish to do so. (22)

Further, there is a report of a Banyoro king who commissioned a traditional doctor to travel around the countryside to investigate, describe, and search for a cure for sleeping sickness, which was ravaging the country at the time.(23) This clearly indicates that a spirit of clinical investigation did exist among Banyoro physicians and probably among other traditional practitioners as well. In many parts of Africa, treatments were devised for new diseases like venereal disease and scrofula that were imported into Africa and this would presuppose some form of clinical investigation and experimentation.

In some parts of Africa, it would seem that the traditional doctor had a firm grasp of some fundamental public health principles. In Liberia, the Mano developed an admirable quarantine system for smallpox. They were well aware of its contagiousness and set aside a "sick bush" for affected patients. This was situated well away from the village and the patient was attended by only one person; no one else was allowed to approach the area. The patient was put on a careful diet and was rubbed with topical anesthetic medications to prevent scratching which could lead to infection. When the illness ran its course, the area wasburned. The "sick-bush" approach would do a modern epidemiologist proud. Of further interest is the centuries-old practice of small-pox variolation which is carried out all over Africa. During an epidemic, material from the pustule of a sick person is scratched into the skin of unaffected persons with a thorn. In the majority of instances, there is no reaction and the persons inoculated are protected against smallpox. In some cases, the inoculation will produce a mild, non-fatal form of the disease which will also confer permanent immunity.(24) Centuries before Jenner, Africans had devised an effective vaccination method against smallpox.

In the area of surgery, the best evidence indicates that some African surgeons attained a level of skill comparable, and in some respects superior, to that of Western surgeons up to the 20th century. As in ancient Egypt, the bonesetter guilds were separate from those of the traditional doctors and were renowned for their skill. Some commentators, observing the bonesetters of today, feel that this reputation was somewhat inflated and the bonesetters' results were less than optimum by Western standards.(25) Yet other reports cite techniques that led tohighly satisfactory results. Mano bonesetters treated a patient with a thigh fracture by placing him in the loft of a house allowing the affected leg to dangle free with a heavy stone attached. This was a very effective traction method and once the fracture was reduced, it was immobilized with a tight splint. (26) In addition, the patient was encouraged to exercise a fractured leg and we know today that new bone is laid down more rapidly over the fracture site when there is some exercise of the limb. Bonesetters in other parts of Africa would dig a deep pit for the purpose of exercising traction on a fractured limb and in East Africa, the bonesetters reduced fractures and dislocations by manual manipulation and traction. These examples indicate that the bonesetters' reputation was not entirely undeserved.

In many areas, especially among warlike peoples, the traditional physician was particularly adept in treating traumatic wounds. One report describes the treatment of an open wound by the following method: plant juices with anti-septic properties were squeezed into the open wound, a red hot metal tip was used to cauterize bleeding points and burn away damaged tissue, the wound edges were closed with a tough thorn, an awl, and fibrous suture and a fiber mat was wrapped tightly around the wound to prevent bleeding. The wound was never closed until the bleeding had been stopped. (27) In another documented instance, a native surgeon successfully resected part of a patient's lung to remove a penetrating arrow-head.(28) In the Congo, a native surgeon was seen using stiff elephant hairs to probe for and successfully remove a bullet.(29) In Nigeria, a man who had had his abdomen ripped open by an elephant was treated by the doctor by replacing the intestines in the abdominal cavity, securing them in place with a calabash covering, and finally suturing together the overlying abdominal wall and skin. Not only did the man recover but was soon back working on a road gang. (30) In the testimony of one author:

"Witch doctors of many tribes perform operations for cataract. They squeeze the juice from the leaves of an alkaloid-containing plant directly into the eye to desensitize it, then push the cataract aside with a sharp stick. A surprising number of these cases turn out successfully."(31)

In East Africa, Masai surgeons were known to successfully treat pleurisy and pneumonitis by creating a partial collapse of the lung by drilling holes into the chest of the sufferer.(32)

It is pertinent to now consider one of the most remarkable examples of African surgery ever documented. This is an eye-witness account by a missionary doctor named Felkin of a Caesarean section performed by a Banyoro surgeon in Uganda in 1879:

"The patient was a healthy-looking primipara (lst pregnancy) of about twenty years of age and she lay on an inclined bed, the head of which rested against the side of the hut. She was half-intoxicated with banana wine, was quite naked and was tied down to the bed by bands of bark cloth over the thorax and thighs. Her ankles were held by a man...while another man stood on her right steadying her abdomen...the surgeon was standing on her left side holding the knife aloft and muttering an incantation. He then washed his hands and the patient's abdomen first with banana wine and then water. The surgeon made a quick cut upwards from just above the pubis to just below the umbilicus severing the whole abdominal wall and uterus so that amniotic fluid escaped. Some bleeding points in the abdominal wall were touched with red hot irons. The surgeon completed the uterine incision, the assistant helping by holding up the sides of the abdominal wall with his hand and hooking two fingers into the uterus. The child was removed, the cord cut, and the child was handed to an assistant." (33)

The report goes on to say that the surgeon squeezed the uterus until it contracted, dilated the cervix from inside with his fingers (to allow post-partum blood to escape), removed clots and the placenta from the uterus, and then sparingly used red hot irons to seal the bleeding points. A porous mat was tightly secured over the wound and the patient turned over to the edge of the bed to permit drainage of any remaining fluid. The peritoneum, the abdominal wall, and the skin were approximated back together and secured with seven sharp spikes. A root paste was applied over the wound and a bandage of cloth was tightly wrapped around it. Within six days, all the spikes were removed. Felkin observed the patient for 11 days and when he left, mother and child were alive and well. (34)

In Scotland, Lister had pioneered antiseptic surgery just two years prior to this event but universal application of his methods in the operating rooms of Europe was still years away. Caesarean sections were performed only under the most desperate circumstances and only to save the life of the infant. A Caesarean section to save the lives of both mother and child was unheard of in Europe nor are there records of such a procedure among the great civilizations of antiquity. As one commentator has said:

"The whole conduct of the operation as Felkin described it suggests a skilled, long-practiced surgical team at work conducting a well-tried and familiar operation with smooth efficiency and unhurried skill...Lister's team in London could hardly have performed with greater smoothness." (35)

Not only did the surgeon understand the sophisticated concepts of anesthesia and antisepsis but also demonstrated advanced surgical technique. In his sparing use of the cautery iron, for example, he showed that he knew tissue damage could result from its overuse. The operation was without question a landmark, reflecting the best in African surgery.

African midwives possessed a good understanding of some fundamental obstetric and pediatric principles. Mano midwives pulled repeatedly at the breasts of women in labor, a maneuver which induces the release of oxytocin - a stimulator of uterine contractions - from the pituitary gland. They sometimes took laboring mothers upon their backs walking around with and shaking them. This undoubtedly had the effect of causing the cervix to dilate and the head to engage, thus facilitating labor.(36) Some Bantu midwives were known to use Indian hemp during labor for its sedative properties. Newborn babes and infants were taken and exposed to the sun for a period each day "to make them strong." One author attributed the rare occurrence of rickets among Mano children to this practice.(37) In addition, these women healers recognized the causes of malnutrition and retarded development, putting such children on special diets high in vitamins and carbohydrates with favorable results.(38)

Traditional African cultures have an abundant materia medica. The Zulus, for example are reputed to know the medicinal uses of some 700 plants. (39) Ouabain, capsicum, physostigmine, kola, and calabar beans are just a few of the substances from the African materia medica that have made their way into the Western pharmacopeia.(40) The traditional midwives often have drugs that can induce abortion in the first three months of pregnancy and in Uganda, in an area where there is a high incidence of dystocia (retarded labor), the midwives have preparations which stimulate uterine contractions. "Fever-leaf" is used all over Africa to treat the recurring fevers of malaria. Certain Bantu-speaking peoples use the bark of Salix capensis (willow) to treat the musculoskeletal complaints of rheumatism.(41) This family of plants yields salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin, a sovereign remedy the world over for musculoskeletal pains. Kaolin, the active ingredient in Kaopectate is used in Mali to combat diarrhea. Caffeine-containing kola nuts are chewed all over Africa for their stimulating and fatigue-combating properties. To combat snakebite, plants containing ouabain and strichnine are used. The former is a heart stimulant and therefore useful against cardiotoxic venoms and the latter is a nerve tonic, useful against neurotoxic venoms. In

Nigeria in 1969, the rootbark Annona senegalensis was found to possess strong anti-cancer properties.(42) Even more recently in 1979, herbal preparations that were used in Nigeria to treat skin infections were found have definite bacteriocidal activity against gram-positive bacteria, the very organisms that cause skin infections. (43) There was an interesting case in 1925 of an eminent Nigerian in England who was suffering from severe psychotic episodes not amenable to treatment by English doctors. A traditional doctor from Nigeria was summoned who was able to relieve the patient of his symptoms with decoctions made from a rauwolfia root. (44) The Rauwolfia family of plants is the source of modern-day Reserpine, first used as a major tranquilizer to treat severe psychosis but now used mainly as an antihypertensive medication.

The list of effective drugs in the African pharmocopeia is too extensive to elucidate here but suffice to say that traditional doctors in Africa had and have effective remedies against intestinal parasites, vomiting, skin ulcers, rashes, catarrh, convulsions, tumors, venereal disease, bronchitis, conjunctivitis, urethral stricture and many other complaints.

There are at least two documented instances of Europeans benefiting from the ministrations of the traditional physician. In the last century, a Bushman doctor cured a European woman dying of sepsis that the European doctor could not treat. In Swaziland, a European doctor, dying of dysentery, was cured by a native physician. (45) Moreover, the native physicians in this area were so skilled at treating Typhoid Fever that the European doctors used their decoctions for the same purpose.

#

This article has attempted to show that the traditional doctors of Africa from the earliest times had a high level of medical and surgical skill, certainly much more than they have been given credit for. It is to be hoped that more substantive and careful investigations will be carried out among the traditional healers of Africa before Western-style medicine supplants them entirely.


Copyright (c)1998-1999:The Black Health Network. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe African Background of Medical Science``x995545990,4925,History4``x``x ``xAbstract: HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
Amnesty International reports on violence in Para out look under:
http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/
This issue is edited to point out the skin tone problem!

Efu Nyaki is a Maryknoll sister who works with the Black Movement in Joao Pessoa, Paraiba .......In reality however, race in Brazil is a complex and difficult issue. Although most of Brazilians claim a mixed African, European and Indigenous ancestry, the weight of racism causes many to "whiten" themselves. Many "morenos" straighten their hair and search for lighter-skinned marriage partners. They often identify themselves and each other with terms that indicate a lighter skin tone, such as: moreninho, café, mulatto, bronziado, chocolate, jambu, moreno claro, moreno escuro, etc. Rarely do they describe themselves as "negro" (black). Even those who call themselves black often have a hard time convincing other Brazilians not to identify them as "moreno" or "mulatto". For many people, to be black is still an insult.

Skin color profoundly influences life's chances. According to a 1992 study by Carlos Hasenbalg and Nelson do Valle Silva, non-white Brazilians are three times more likely than whites to be illiterate. The numbers deteriorate even further at higher educational level: whites are five times more likely than people of mixed ancestry and nine times more likely than blacks to obtain university degrees. The patterns repeats itself in the work force, where, according to the government statistics, whites have access to the highest-paying jobs, earning up to 75% more that blacks and 50% more that people of mixed ancestry. Other socio-economic indicators are no less grim. Infant mortality statistics are almost twice as high for non-white children, and the vast majority of detainees in the country's crowded prison system are non-whites.

Not all of the consequences of racism can be neatly packed into statistics and charts. Effects on self-esteem are not so easily measured. At a recent reflection group of Afro-Brazilian women in João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba, a woman named Cida painfully recounted the end of her relationship with Chico, a lighter-skinned black. The two had dated for several years without their color difference seeming to create any difficulties. When they got engaged however, Chico s family exploded; "This little blackie is going to pollute our blood. Go and find someone who will purify it," Chico s mother raged. Chico caved in and broke off the engagement within days. Two years latter, Cida painfully asked the group, "How can you tell me not to feel inferior because of my color?"

There are many examples and stories like Cida's. We could go on and on to show just how complex the question of racism is in Brazil.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xColor problems in Brazil``x995712117,96864,History4``x``x ``x(A Hotep) All attempts at legitimizing the use of the 'N' word are absurd.
The word was used to degrade Africans and reinforce white supremacy and when used by other Blacks/Africans in their idea of a friendly way, they are trying to assert their superiority to make a point.

People should examine how and when the term is used.

I also find it very disgusting to here people refer to females as Bitches and it is pitiful when females accept this disrespect all because they wish to maintain some 'ghetto' status or lack thereof or income from these males. The use of these obscene terms is still to reinforce inferior/superior status and is the same even when done among so called friends.

While my main focus is equal opportunity to enlightenment, I am quite aware that in this effort we must accept equal opportunity to remain foolish.

It is in this light I have no problem with people using these words other than to explain the evil use. I consider these people to be extremely ignorant and disrespectful and as such I would not associate with them other than to help them learn the errors of their ways.

Our problem today is not simply 'White People' but ignorance, which is an equal opportunity sickness. In our development to equal opportunity we must first align ourselves with people whom we respect who equally respects us.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAttempts to legitimize the use of the 'N' word ``x995997113,20416,History4``x``x ``x(BBC) The modern world has barely touched the Kalahari desert, in the middle of Botswana. Nature, not man, governs the daily pattern of life.

It is as bare, remote and harsh as life can get - and yet there is a natural, undisturbed order that gives this land its own sense of beauty.

But yet people do live here, as they have done for nearly 30,000 years. This is home to the San people - or the Bushmen of the Kalahari.

They have lived here as hunter-gatherers. Only several hundred remain on their ancestral lands. But now they face a battle to cling on to their way of life.

The Botswanan Government is urging - some would say forcing - them to move. Huddled around fires outside their huts in the cold early morning the villagers told me about their plight.

"It's up to us, we will stay here even if they try to kill us", said 28-year-old Gakemothowasepe Molapong. "We know this land. We are as free as birds and we will live as we want."

It is a competition between the indigenous rights of the San people, and the economic interests of Botswana.

The government says it wants to protect the wildlife, but many believe that they are motivated by the huge mineral wealth the Kalahari is believed to possess, including diamonds and possible uranium. And so, the government wants to relocate the San communities. More on this Story

South Africa's indigenous people, known as Khoisan,
are demanding better treatment from the country's government.

Country profile: Botswana``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe San people or the Bushmen battle for Kalahari``x996062708,50924,History4``x``x ``x(Guardian UK) The director of public prosecutions, David Calvert-Smith, acknowledged yesterday that the crown prosecution service is institutionally racist and admitted that this could affect how decisions are taken in the prosecution process.

He made the embarrassing confession after the publication of two damning reports highlighting widespread racial discrimination in the CPS. An 18-month inquiry by Sylvia Denman, a leading academic lawyer, concluded: "Institutional racism has been, and continues to be, at work in the CPS."

A separate report by the commission for racial equality discovered that two distinct prosecuting teams, split on racial lines, were operating in the Croydon branch of the CPS and managers had failed to take action to stop this.

It said: "The level of organisational and management failure was such as would meet the test for institutional racism, as defined by the Stephen Lawrence inquiry report." [More]

Report on Racism in UK``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xUK: We're racist, admits prosecution service chief``x996254800,8239,History4``x``x ``xThe genetic history of a group of populations is usually analyzed by reconstructing a tree of their origins. Reliability of the reconstruction depends on the validity of the hypothesis that genetic differentiation of the populations is mostly due to population fissions followed by independent evolution. If necessary, adjustment for major population admixtures can be made. Dating the fissions requires comparisons with paleoanthropological and paleontological dates, which are few and uncertain.

A method of absolute genetic dating recently introduced uses mutation rates as molecular clocks; it was applied to human evolution using microsatellites, which have a sufficiently high mutation rate. Results are comparable with those of other methods and agree with a recent expansion of modern humans from Africa. An alternative method of analysis, useful when there is adequate geographic coverage of regions, is the geographic study of frequencies of alleles or haplotypes.

As in the case of trees, it is necessary to summarize data from many loci for conclusions to be acceptable. Results must be independent from the loci used. Multivariate analyses like principal components or multidimensional scaling reveal a number of hidden patterns and evaluate their relative importance. Most patterns found in the analysis of human living populations are likely to be consequences of demographic expansions, determined by technological developments affecting food availability, transportation, or military power.

During such expansions, both genes and languages are spread to potentially vast areas. In principle, this tends to create a correlation between the respective evolutionary trees. The correlation is usually positive and often remarkably high. It can be decreased or hidden by phenomena of language replacement and also of gene replacement, usually partial, due to gene flow. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/94/15/7719``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xGenes, peoples, and languages ``x996380627,76940,History4``x``x ``xKwasi Akyeampong
My question for discussion:
WHAT IS RASTAFARIANISM?
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS RASTARIANISM?
WHO IS A RASTAFARIAN?
CAN ANYONE BECOME A RASTAFARIAN?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A RASTAFARIAN?
WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF RASTAFARIANISM?

I believe...it was Prof. Rex Nettleford wrote of the culture of "The Dred."
SO WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING DRED AND BEING A RASTAFARIAN?

IF YOU ARE "BALD HEAD" - NOT A RASTA , HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE A RASTA?

These are question that have come up in casual conversations and many of us have not given thought to thoughtfully explore the questions.

The concept of Rastafarianism has seems to have changed since my youth. Men with dred-locks (dread(full) hair) does not seem to be dred-lack, dread(ed) and dread(full) men - warrior against "Babylon" with "blood and fire" on their tongues.

"The music of Africa's lost generation has become the music of the town."(sic), said Una Morrison, Jamaican poet.

HAS RASTAFARIANS BECOME THE CULTURAL LORDS OF "BABYLON?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Posted by: Ras for Self

There is a modern Rasta who identifies with His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Sellassie and a set of social practices including Dreadlocks. I see these Rastas as having commune outside of the general hypocrisies of the Western World and are more sensitive to social/African issues. I would leave this aspect for other Rastafari of the community.

InI deal in the essence of Rasta and Rastafari, which is wisdom, developed through self-identification and SELF-reunification. This is the area that speaks to and from our common good. InI await dialogue with man/woman who want to attain this cosmic Rastafari state. This is the highest calling of mankind and it can be adequately defined from the root of the word to the experience of higher development. InI will say more when more Rastafari engage this issue.

InI know, InI think, InI believe what InI know.
Rastafari, InI Speaks,
Ras for Self
More > Rastafari Speaks Message Board``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xWhat Is Rastafarianism?``x996503404,49297,Rasta``x``x ``xTHE EDITOR: "In Ghana, women have made some progress mostly because of the legacy of the former colonial rulers." So writes Kevin Baldeosingh in his flippant report on a brief and secluded visit to Accra, Ghana More > (Express 26/7/01).

For someone who is often at pains to appear learned, I find Kevin to be intellectually lazy when addressing histories of the non-European world.

You don't have to be an Afrocentrist to argue that his observation on the relationship between the progress of women in Africa and the legacy of colonialism, smacks of the most banal Eurocentrism.

There is a vast body of scholarship published from within the Euro-American academy that writers like Kevin revere, which has effectively challenged the idea that colonialism liberated and advanced the womenfolk of Africa.

This would have been a remarkable achievement for colonial rulers, especially since the European males who administered colonies in Africa brought with them a system of patriarchal domination that was common in Europe.

Indeed, researchers have shown that colonialism tended to strengthen the power of men (white and black) over women in Africa, in relation to issues ranging from household tasks to the allocation of land and property.

The notion that European intervention represented "progress" for the peoples of Africa began with the ideologues of the slave trade and colonial expansion and remains deeply embedded in the schools of thought with which Kevin seems to enjoy a close and uncritical relationship. He should broaden his intellectual interests.

In the course of doing so, he might discover that African leaders, culpable as they are for the continent's woes, did not act alone; there was no shortage of foreign benefactors.

When, for example, the peoples of the Congo demanded access to education, technology, democracy and the human rights mentioned in the article, various US administrations stood solidly behind Mobutu, the brutal dictator that ruled against the possibility of such.

No one seriously concerned about the plight of Africans will call upon them to forget the past and uncritically adopt the plans of their former colonial rulers and the US, as Kevin advises.

He should stick to his satire and commentaries on our local racial essentialists and spare us the trite analyses of contemporary Africa, of which there is an adequate supply in the local media.

DAVID JOHNSON
Associate Professor of African History
City University of New York``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xWhite men didn't free African women``x996576144,57277,History4``x``x ``xBorn in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. This online collection is a joint presentation of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions of the Library of Congress and includes more than 200 photographs from the Prints and Photographs Division that are now made available to the public for the first time. Born in Slavery was made possible by a major gift from the Citigroup Foundation.
More > http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xBorn in Slavery: Slave Narratives``x996578699,91325,History4``x``x ``x(Jamaica Gleaner) "The hour is at hand, the Monster is dying...in recounting the mood in his church that night he said- "the winds of freedom appeared to have been set loose, the very building shook at the strange yet sacred joy." - William Knibb, non-conformist Baptist preacher and abolitionist, at the dawning of Aug. 1, 1838

Freedom can be said to have arrived in two stages; the first being the early morning of Friday, August 1, 1834. On that day many slaves were said to have walked up hills and climbed trees so as to clearly witness the literal dawning of their freedom. Around the island thousands attended "Divine Services" to give thanks and praise. August 1, 1834, marked the emancipation of all slaves in British colonies but it was a case of freedom with conditions. Although the Abolition Act stated that slavery shall be and is hereby utterly abolished and unlawful, the only slaves truly freed were those not yet born and those under six years of age. All other slaves were to enter a six-year 'apprenticeship' during which they were to be 'apprenticed' to the plantations. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xEmancipation in Jamaica``x996649200,78926,History4``x``x ``xDuring the 18th century, the powerful Maroons, escaped ex-slaves who settled in the mountains of Jamaica, carved out a significant area of influence. Through the use of slave labor, the production of sugar in this British colony flourished. But the courageous resistance of the Maroons threatened this prosperous industry. These efforts included plantation raids, the killing of white militiamen, and the freeing of slaves. The threat to the system was clear and present; hence, the planters were willing to sign a treaty with the Maroons in 1738. The treaty offers good insight to the relationship between the planters and the Maroons at the time, and deserves further attention.

On March 1, 1738, the articles of pacification with the Maroons of Trelawny Town signaled to Jamaica that a new era was emerging. The English planters had feared the rising power of the Maroons, and therefore tried to subdue them. This proved to be unsuccessful, consequently causing the English to realize that making peace with the Maroons was the only possible solution. This treaty was the first of its kind and it demonstrated that a group of rebellious ex-slaves had forced a powerful class of planters to come to terms. This was an unlikely event during the eighteenth century, given the dominance of the planter class across the Caribbean. Yet the fact remains that the treaty did not solely serve the planters’ interest. For example, article three of the treaty states that the Maroons were given 1500 acres of crown land, a necessity for the Maroons to maintain their independent way of life. In addition, it made a boundary between the Maroons and the planters, which was to avoid future conflicts. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe Maroons of Jamaica``x996649200,73177,History4``x``x ``xWhen referring to the Amazigh people, the boundaries stretch across the borders of all of north Africa, and even beyond, including the Canary Islands, Mauritania, Niger, etc. (The area including north Africa and the Canary Islands is called Tamazgha, land of the Amazigh.)

Three terms which should be kept straight are: Amazigh, Imazighen, and Tamazight. The first is the singular for the people and the culture. Imazighen is the plural. Tamazight refers to the umbrella language group, as well as to a specific regionalism of the language, spoken in some areas of Morocco and Algeria. When the term is used by non-linguists, it inevitably refers to the language of the Imazighen in general. The term "Amazigh" is also used ideologically and politically to denote those who identify themselves first and foremost as Amazigh (rather than, for example, by the country of origin or as Muslim) and adhere to principles of democracy and secularism. More > http://www.waac.org/amazigh/amazigh_home.html

http://www.arab.net/morocco/morocco_contents.html

(BBC) King Mohammed VI of Morocco has promised to set up a body to preserve the language and culture of the country's Berbers, who make up a majority of the population.
In a speech to mark the second anniversary of his accession to the throne, the king said the body would work towards integrating the Berber language into the education system. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe Cultural Unity Of The Amazigh People``x996651853,96901,History4``x``x ``xCARLISLE, Pa. -- With its neatly trimmed lawn and plain, white gravestones, the small, well-kept cemetery near the rear gate of the U.S. Army War College at the Carlisle Barracks looks at first like many other Army cemeteries.

But a braid of sweetgrass here and a beaded hair clip there identify the site not as a soldiers' graveyard, but as the final resting place for more than 100 American Indian children who died far from home.

From 1879-1918, the Carlisle Barracks was home to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the model for a nationwide system of government-run Indian boarding schools intended to "civilize" American Indian children by teaching them farming and trades while squelching their language and traditions. More > http://www.sltrib.com/07292001/travel/116859.htm``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAttempts to 'Civilize' American Indian Children``x996672361,96645,History4``x``x ``xWhat must be done to preserve Western Civilization?
By Rabbi Mayer Schiller
If current trends continue, some time in the middle of the next century the majority of this nation's inhabitants will be nonwhites. As has been shown repeatedly in the pages of American Renaissance, the presence of large numbers of nonwhites irrevocably changes the character of a school, neighborhood, city or state. Most whites find these changes so disagreeable that they simply move away. However, they can do this only because there are still many areas of the country that are overwhelm-ingly white. What will happen if whites become a minority? Even before whites are reduced to a minority, the shift towards a largely nonwhite population will be felt in all areas of life. Taxes, crime, and disease will rise. "Reverse discrimination" will become the norm. Ever larger parts of the country will be essentially off limits to whites, even as government resorts to ever more draconian measures to enforce integration. Legislatures and schools dominated by nonwhites will rewrite our history, belittle our heritage, overturn our monuments, and abandon the cultural norms of our civilization. This is the great crisis of our times.(1)
More > http://www.natesu.org/rabbi.htm``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xSeparation: Is There an Alternative?``x996751973,52965,History4``x``x ``xHere you will find information on the prehistoric people of Eurasia known as Neanderthals, and on the early modern humans who succeeded them.

Who were these two groups of people? (see below). How were they related? How did they interact? Where did the first modern humans come from? And what eventually became of the Neanderthals? Final answers to these questions have yet to be found, but this web site allows you to share in the quest for knowledge about this fascinating period of prehistory.

New evidence on the last Neanderthals and first modern humans of Eurasia is constantly pouring in. This web site uses a regional perspective to report these new findings and to help clarify the pattern of human evolution during this exciting epoch. It presents concise, objective summaries of the latest archeological and fossil evidence for each region of Eurasia where these ancient peoples once lived: http://www.neanderthal-modern.com/``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xNeanderthals and Modern Humans - A Regional Guide ``x996764285,54879,History4``x``x ``xSmall groups of Hadzabe bushmen live around Lake Eyasi. Their language resembles the click languages of other bushmen further south in the Kalahari. Their small population was seriously threatened, in particular during the period when Julius Nyere tried to introduce his Ujuma policy. The tribe resisted the forcible settlement policies of Julius Nyere and nowadays most of their children have never seen a doctor or school - the bush provides for all their needs and is a class room for their offspring.

They are often willing for visitors to come and see their simple bush homes where the tree canopy alone or a cave provides them with shelter. They live entirely off the bush and from hunting, generally small antelopes and baboons, although in rainy seasons gazelles and antelopes come down from the Ngorongoro or Serengeti to their then lush bush lands offering them richer pickings. In the recent past their hunting activities were resented by trophy hunters who tried to stop their "illegal"hunting. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xHadzabe Bushmen - Lake Eyasi``x996881504,93572,History4``x``x ``xReparation for slavery and colonialism, and the nature of Zionism,
put world conference in jeopardy

(Guardian Unlimited) International negotiators meeting in Geneva have a week to save the UN conference on racism from collapse.
The conference was intended for heads of government but some countries intend to send lesser representatives.

Although many leaders of the developing world are planning to attend, Tony Blair is among the western leaders who will be absent.

The decision whether to send the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, or a junior minister, is being delayed until a judgment can be made on the likely outcome of the meeting.

Diplomats from states planning to attend the conference, due to start in Durban, South Africa, on August 31, have to agree on the wording of a final draft of a declaration on racism for the conference to adopt, and a plan of action. The deadline is Friday.

If they fail some countries are likely to further lower their level of representation, and at at worst the US will withdraw.

Backed by the EU, Washington says it will not endorse a declaration equating Zionism with racism, or containing references to compensation or reparations for slavery and colonialism.

Discrimination, subjugation, and foreign occupation are, in the phrase used by the western camp, "not region specific". India, for example, has fought off an attempt to have its caste system classed as oppressive. [More]``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe past could defeat UN racism charter ``x997059958,40661,History4``x``x ``x( Dredeye ) If you feel you are seeking a perspective from Rasta people, I am more than willing to share my own views to dispel any confusion you have experienced from other people. I respect your sense of urgency in terms of establishing a sensible discourse about Rastafari so please feel free to respond at anytime.
Give thanks and praises to the Most High Jah Rastafari! His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I the revealed kingly character of InI true savior Yehoshua(Hebrew name for Jesus)
Dredeye Knight Out!
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( Akinkawon ) Brother, search for the true meaning of those words, Yehoshua and Jesus, they have African originals.

Examine Jewish history and see how they have become lost for not getting the African meaning to the words they use. Yes brother, their entire doctrine has an African originality but is lost to them and all who copy them.
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( Dredeye ) I know Yehoshua means "God is salvation" in Hebrew. But my brother Akinkawon, what African orignal name are you speaking of? Amongst the thousands of different cultures and languages, the names and the words that describes the manifestations of Jah are many. Yehoshua was living example of Jah but so were other Africans throughout history. I also agree that much of Hebrew(which does differ from Jewish culture)has been influenced by Ancient Kemetic rituals and practices. If you don't mind, could you please give a little jump start in finding some of these names and their sources. Give thanks sharing your POV, it only helps to affirm InI as the chosen in the sight of the Most High.
Dredeye Knight Out!
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( Akinkawon ) The way some Rastas hold on to these Jewish and Christian stories it comes over as if Africans had no concept of these things.

It is not so much the names you choose but how and why you use them and if those words give you a clear understanding of what you are holding on to. I agree it is popular folktale to claim that Joshua and Jesus carry the same meaning but in Jewish history/folktales Joshua was a tribal leader whom the Jews were trying to make into the Egyptian concept of a savior.

In both Jewish and Egyptian history (the Jews copied from the Egyptians) the leaders were two characters, one was a leader of the people (like a king) and the other was a spiritual leader.

In modern Judaism and Christianity they lost the meaning of these two figureheads that was derived from Egypt, where they had a spiritual guide/leader/high-priest and a leader for the daily affairs of the society. Very often one would read of the pharaoh consulting with the Spiritual leader in the temple before making important decisions.

In Jewish history, Joshua was a warring leader assisting them in overrunning other tribes. So they held this character in high esteem. He may have been their idea of a savior in their quest for land. But for the people who were looted and killed in that drive, he was something else.

But on the other hand if one study the origin of the word Jesus is was a corruption of the Greek Iesous, which was, coined from the late Egyptian Horus, which means the same savior and can be traced back to the earlier Egyptian word Heru (Savior). When heru was used as a verb, it meant to save. The word hero in English was derived from the Greek heros, which came from the Egyptian heru - to save. That word can be traced back to an earlier word meaning the same life saving forces of the Universe.

There is more to this but I recommend people try to investigate what they hold on to and not come over like hard-line Christian fundamentalist; least they discourage others from sharing.

Please do not expect to find this in modern dictionaries.
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( Dredeye ) Peace Akinkawon,

I agree with your statements. Let us not be deceived by filtered names and history that only masks our true history as Africans, the true creators and forerunners of highly developed civilizations.Again, Iman speaks for Iself when Iman say that Kemet is the root of all major civilizations including Israel. But even before there was Kemet in all of its profound glory, the ancient civilizations of Nubia which is based at the 1st cataract of the Nile(Blue Nile)were thriving. What is the current location of Nubia, Ethiopia and the Sudanese area East African areas. Basically, the land of the sun-burned faces.

I don't really know the how ancient Nubians practiced or worshipped their own higher beings but even still they influenced Kemetic culture. Matter of fact, I was watching a documentary one time on Discovery channel, and they were breaking down how there were smaller protype versions of pyramids that stand to this very day found in the central east african region of the continent. Who built them? Why? InI built them, why? I don't know but the knowledge is within, InI just have to find the same creativity, faith, and ingenuity to remember those lessons and skills.

My brother Akinkawon, InI are rootsmen. InI come from the ground of the so that the Most High put certain elements together to make His sheep(InI) tend to the earth in all of its beautiful and natural glory. Unfortunately, thru the course of thousands of years we have lost track of that great and powerful mental and spiritual knowledge. To InI, Rastafari is a way to attain that knowledge by rejecting the death and destruction that Babylon has InI plugged into daily and begin to reconstruct the great civilization of old but better. Because now we will not underestimate the abilities of the evil forces that combat us from acheiving this mighty goal. Europeans and our own black people have shown InI that.

I apologize for writing so much, but for Iman, once all the different ideological barriers are broken and all of InI to see InI's true stake in life and history, they won't matter much cuz they are all different ways of identifying with and acheiving the spirtual heights that we are capable of.
Rastafari Love
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( Akinkawon ) Write as much as you wish.

I do not understand what you are trying to say here; "Let us not be deceived by filtered names and history that only masks our true history as Africans, the true creators and forerunners of highly developed civilizations."

I specifically wrote in reference to the use of Joshua and Jesus. Some may feel this is unimportant but how would you like it if someone controlled the media, documented that George Bush is the savior of mankind, then kill all the people who know better and future children are left to grow up with this propaganda as if it was a divine truth.

They would be all singing praises to a hoax and cannot become enlightened from the repetition of that lie. If they do not get access to better information, they would have to return to the land and live naturally to start realizing basic truths. (Most people should do this as a primary discipline to higher learning.)

Also, I do not accept that high civilization started with Egypt or Nubia. When I hear people with this I immediately question what they call civilized. The West is still to develop civilization if the character of people and not their material possessions measures it.

For me human civilization started with the earliest aboriginal humans, and along the way many people became uncivilized and some returned to brief periods of civilization.
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( Dredeye ) I'm assuming this was the basis of your question below:
"I do not understand what you are trying to say here; "Let us not be deceived by filtered names and history that only masks our true history as Africans, the true creators and forerunners of highly developed civilizations."

I specifically wrote in reference to the use of Joshua and Jesus. Some may feel this is unimportant but how would you like it if someone controlled the media, documented that George Bush is the savior of mankind, then kill all the people who know better and future children are left to grow up with this propaganda as if it was a divine truth"

Okay Akinkawon. This is my overstanding of what you are asking. First of all, when you are trying to explain the true meaning behind Joshua and Jesus, I'm kind of got lost where you are coming from. Originally you asked about why Rasta people use the false term of Jesus only. Then I explained to you that the true name of so called Jesus is "Yehoshuah" which means (Yahweh is salvation) I'm not sure where the name Joshua came in but for now let InI deal with Yehoshua. If you research in a Jersulam Bible which provides linguistic and historical context for the scriptures it will tell you the Hebrew name for Jesus. (Check in Matthew, it should reveal something in the frist reference to "Jesus") I agree that the name Jesus Christ is a "filtered name" and his message and history has also been tampered with as well. If you diagree that Yehoshuah is his real name, please correct me by showing what substantiates the African name of the man many have known to be called Jesus the Christ or Jesus of Nazareth.

Secondly, your definition of civilization may be different than my own. Yet, Ancient Kemet and Nubia are still considered to be "High Civilizations" based upon the levels of social, political, economic, scientific, and spiritual interaction and expansion they acheived. Aborginals' history also supports humankind's place of origin in Africa. But name one a group that developed a complex language and writing system that baffles many African and European scholars til this very day. Name any aboriginal society that have fortified structures that have yet to determined exactly how they were built.

Aboriginal were nomadic at times and sustained fewer numbers within their groups because of a lack of basic viable resources(food and water). Ancient Kemet and Nubia were built upon a major water source(the Nile) that helped to yield an abundance of crops that fueled the livlihood of more people at one time. Iman speak for Iself, but this is what Iman define as "High civilization". Not to demean aboriginal civilization because they were the beginnings of Nubians, Mesopatiamians, etc. But there was also a significant development of human nature in order for aboriginals to evolve to humans of Ancient Kemet or Nubia.
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( Sandra ) Mr Dredeye Knight

Please think about Akinkawon's last response and seriously tell me if knowing what is right and wrong does not matter.

Remember, you said you were opened to discussion so I am looking for discussion on your last post.
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( Dredeye ) Blessings, Love, Guidance to you Sista Sandra,

I just left a post for Akinkawon, you are more welcome to read it. Again, we as people who actually have the time to spend on a discourse between right and wrong are truly blessed while the masses of InI people struggle from day to day to overstand the right and wrong of their own situations in life. Right and wrong truly weighs on the conscious of the indvidual. I realize there is a sense of urgency on your part to derive some peace of mind in regard to Rasta people. Like I wrote to Omawali in an earlier message, InI could poke holes in everyone's belief system based upon ostensible contradictions and fallacies, yet the heart of the matter truly concerns how each individual on Jah Rastafari's world can fill the God shaped hole in their hearts. I leave you with this:

Whenever conflict arises between material and spiritual values, the conscience plays an important role and anyone who suffers from a guilty conscience is never really free from this problem until he makes peace with himself and his conscience. Discipline of the mind is the basic ingredient of genuine morality and therefore spiritual strength. Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator. Since nobody can interfere in the realm of God we should tolerate and live side by side with people of different faiths, In the mystic tradition of the different religions we have a remarkable Unity of Spirit. Whatever religion they may profess, they are Spiritual Kinsmen.
Words of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I
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( Akinkawon ) I thought Yehoshua was your way of saying Joshua. I'll wait for clarity on this.

I can also give an extensive historical overview of Yahweh, but for the point I want to make that is not relevant.

It is these discussions that make it possible for others to understand the right and wrong of their 'own' situation and when people stop struggling to understand the relationship between their ideas and their own poverty they remain slaves.

Poking holes in the beliefs of others may be a good thing if it is done with the intent to uplift. However, this does not apply to me since I do not live by any belief system.

My point is simple, if Rastafarians expect cooperation and assistance from others, they better be prepared to have these concepts scrutinized. People should not contribute to anything in ignorance and if some Rastafarians do not want to be scrutinized then they would have to keep what they believe private and only seek help from other Rastafarians. I do not know how they would do that since many call themselves Rastafarians and all claim to be the true ones and they contradict each other. Yet some Rastafarians expect non-Rastafarians to be able to tell the difference.

I am in agreement with several non-Rastafarians on this forum who do not hold Haile Selassie in the same esteem like Rastafarians.

To Rastafarians, does that mean that such people including Africans are false or ungodly and Rastafarians are gods special chosen people. I have witnesses the long-term effects of such attitudes; the present Jews are living examples of this. Do I hate them? No. Do I dislike Rastafarians because I do not accept what I hear from most who claim Rastafari? No. But if our quest is not about defining common values then the distrust and conflicts continues.
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( Dredeye ) Greetings Mi bredren Akinkawon,

I hope that our discussions have helped to breakdown some of the generalizations you feel about Rasta people. For some, the Rastafari faith gives an outlet to people either be more comforting and compassionate to people or a means to justify their egotistical and sometimes quite immoral actions. To generalize all of Rasta people based upon some religious zealots can be seen as quite unfair. Iman, personally, know quite a few Rastas that uphold the true liviti of Rastafari in expressing the One Love attitude.

Know this, as Iman grow in Jah wisdom, Iman have come to know that it is not worth judging people with right or wrong based upon one's personal ethical and spiritual codes. InI are here to overstand and receive the messages that Rastafari relate to InI thru His teachings, His speeches, InI life and liviti. Iman do not expect everyone to Hail His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I in the same way as people of Rastafari do. But as children of the Most High God, no matter how you recognize and give homage to His presence, I do expect their to be common respect, understanding, and humility to burn thru weakheart conceptons of the false ego, to reach the Iyah Ites of humanity as an African nation, as a human nation under Jah.

With that being said, you can continue to judge Iman and all InI bredren and sistren based upon what "Non-Rastafarians" hold to be rightful and truthful, but also recognize that is the same disdain that you will give to other people because they don't fit your particular standard of what is required to truly liberate InI people. My ancestors come from Haiti, the only black nation that successful ousted a European colonial power(besides Ethiopia) by galvanizing the people despite different ideaologies and spirtual practices.

Thus Iman know this same idea can be transplanted anywhere with the proper leadership and humblance to the Most High. Either way Akinkawon, right or wrong, you are the master of your own destiny for all of its successes and failures. Be open to learning despite what you think you want to know or already know because Jah Rastafari, God, Yaweh, Yehoshua, Buddha, Hare Krisna, Allah, Orishna, or even Jesus Christ manifests in ways beyond your own overstanding or control. If you are open to receive the blessings than it won't matter who it comes from, as long as you receive the blessing.
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( Akinkawon ) The generalizations you feel about Rasta people?

Brother, in my previous posts I made references to some Rastafarians and I deliberately kept away from stereotyping all Rastafarians. You can review my post for yourself.

People could only judge right and wrong by their own ethical understanding and the purpose of discussions between diverse people is to refine those understandings.

"You can continue to judge Iman and all InI bredren and sistren based upon what "Non-Rastafarians" hold to be rightful and truthful, but also recognize that is the same disdain that you will give to other people because they don't fit your particular standard of what is required to truly liberate InI people."

Here again you are speaking from your own misunderstanding as we are simply having a discussing where you give your positions and I give mine. Where in my comments have I treated you with disdain (contempt)?

You agree with many of the points I made about some Rastafarians so I find it amusing that you would end the discussion with pointless rhetorical conclusions.

You would have to explain how my different views deny anyone from being and doing what they want.

You are making the same call others and myself have been making on this forum for people to be more open to different views. Let us see how many people are ready to accede to that request.

It is because I am opened, I study many different cultural points of view and draw from them what makes sense to me. I am not accepting anything because someone says so, but if it makes sense and can lead to greater understanding sure I'll use it.
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( Dredeye ) Greetings Akinkawon,

I apologize if Iman misunderstood your message. I truly appreciate your open-minded attitudes as we all push for liberation and repatriation. Many times InI may falter because of basic misunderstanding. That is why Iman personally like to reason with people face to face to get better overstanding of what each person is saying. Being a defender of InI faith, can sometimes make Iman a little defensive. But let InI continue with the discussion.

Iman was discussing with a man who was in Ethiopia from 1972-1974 when His Majesty was ousted from His Palace. From this bredrens overstanding, His Majesty had imposed wonderful statues and programs to bring Ethiopia into the 20th century as well admired His Majesty for nobility in fighting Italian forces during the 1930's. He also mentioned that it was not until the latter few years of His reign that perhaps senility and disconnection with InI people caused for serious misjudgemens on His part. Its perception like these that help Iman shape Iman's view of His Majesty as a man of the flesh.

Truly, Iman recognize His significance in regard to biblical prophecy and lineage, and even as a true and living King of Israel. Emperor Haile Selassie I is one to be venerated to the utmost but absolute worship for Iman is another story. What Iman say is quite upsetting to many Rasta people, but InI know self, and this is Iman's take on His Majesty.
Let InI continue pon Iyah Ites of truth,
Dredeye Knight Out!

From the Rastafari Speaks Message Board ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAre Rastafarians Confusing?``x997081200,24831,Rasta``x``x ``x( Omawali ) How do you feel the Rastafarian movement can benefit all people?
From what I read, it is the African movement that gave rise to all the other movements from since Marcus Garvey. So how come Marcus Garvey and the General African Movement is not given serious consideration in the Rastafarian Movement, notwithstanding the fact that is African researchers and activists who brought most of European fallacies to light. Why is it necessary to keep the two apart when there is the same call for African Unity?
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( Jeff ) Thank You for being open, having manners, and showing Respect! Some people, including some Rastas themselves (here on the internet especially), seem to leave their manners, honesty, and Respect at the door. ;-)

This is my own personal testimony, as I can only speak for myself and my own experiences with the Rastafari Movement. I am a male of European descent, with pale skin and a German-Lutheran background. I learned of Rasta from a religious standpoint, seeing Haile Selassie I as Jesus the Christ returned LITERALLY. My views have changed since then as I see the more mystical side of Christ and what it means to find JAH within. Along my Trod with Rastafari, I have also been awakend to the reality of racism and oppression, not only of Africans, but many people around the globe. But the thing I learned most about, that I was never taught in school or by my parents, was Black Consciousness and African history. Rasta really opened my eyes with the truth of European colonization, Imperialism, and slavery. Through rastafari, I have been awakened to the sad reality of racism here in America, through many Reasoning both online and off. About 2 years ago, on another message board, some very heated Reasonings went down, and my eyes were opened even more. Back in high school, when I was first learning about Rasta, 13 year ago, I started asking my Dad things like, "What if Jesus was Black?" He didn't know what to say, and thought I was involved with something that was turing my brain away from all that I had been taught. It scared the crap out of him! Now I have learned him a bit on the reality of the times, and the reality of our own hgistory here in America that many, many white people would like to soon forget. I even learned that my grandfather, who was a Lutheran minister, was chased out of his church in Texas for trying to desegregate it! Must run in my blood. (smiles)

Rastafari has also opened me up to other Spiritual Livities that the church kept me blinded to through labels such as "pagan" "heathens" and "unbelievers". I have learned a great deal about Livities throughout our Human Race, and think it a great shame when other Rastas use the same bullshit Western Christian mentality in regards to our Spiritual Kinsmen! What a waste of the precious tapestry of Life that JAH has given to us! I was so inspired by a speech from His Majesty that I am going to teach at a community college classes about REAL HISTORY, and comparative religious studies. I feel that my Life can be used as a tool for the greater purpose of Humanity. Wake people up to all that is going on out there! Taking the planks out of their eyes....

Rastafari has also helped me see the brutality of industrialized, mass-produced animal consumption, the danger of drugs, and the nessecity of getting back to the basics with the Earth that the Creator has given to us.

I know that if Rastafari has Inspired me personally in all the ways that it has, then it can be of help to others as well. I don't push anything on others, and get irritated when Rastas try and do that crap. Too much like colonialistic mentality to me! I am just going to use my Life, which has been so Inspired by Rastafari, to help in the progression of not only African Peoples, but all peoples of the HUman Race.

People can go on and on with Bible verses, who or what Selassie I means to them, etc etc....but only by the works of the hands, and the meditations of the Heart can a Truely Righteous individual be known.

JAH LOVE
Jeff
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( Omawali ) Brother, there is a lot to work out and I strongly feel that most Rastafarians do not really know the true history of the Rastafarian movement coming out of Jamaica, the role of Marcus Garvey and the meaning of 'Ras' before the birth of the modern popular movement. I am trying to find out if there is a general consensus among Rastafarians that Christianity, be it through Jewish or other interpretations, is the only way to evaluate history and the cultural values of other people even African people who are tied to a richer legacy could be easily dismissed.

As a student of history I went through all the speeches and the history of Selassie and in my opinion (if I am entitled to have one on this forum) he did not say any new inspiring thing that cannot be found in the works of people like Garvey, the philosophies of Dogon people, the rich legacy of Egypt (before the first Europeans conquered there), the ancient Africans of India, China etc.

All these moral and ethical values were available long before the Jews, the Christians and even the Rastafarian movement. Is it not a type of disrespect to dismiss the earliest people who gave these messages to humanity and to give the impression that they originated with Selassie or the Rastafarian Movement?

The natural lifestyles - like what can be found on IanI Website - with all the experiences with the forces of nature, existed long before even the word Rastafari and certainly long before the modern movement. How could anyone try to claim that these natural ways and realizations that came from those states can be credited to any one group of Africans and not the common states of mankind?

The ancient Egyptians said "Man Know Thyself" (this was a Greek translation) and Rastafarians today say one have to know "I and I" which to me means the same thing. How could one be modern and the other obsolete and why don't some Rastafarians understand they are the same things?

The only major difference to me is language and the lack of understanding of the meaning of different cultural expressions (and European misunderstandings and deliberate distortions).

If people do not want to discuss these things then all this talk about spirituality is a waste and the Religion will not be properly understood.
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( Jeff ) I have clipped and pasted from your post in order to bring some clarity to the Reasonings.

>Brother, there is a lot to work out and I strongly feel that most Rastafarians do not really know the true history of the Rastafarian movement out of Jamaica, the role of Marcus Garvey and the meaning of 'Ras' before the birth of the modern popular movement<

Yes, lots of work to do, both locally and globally. Even the smallest act helps in the larger scheme of things. And yes, many so-called Rastas do not know of Garvey, or Ethiopian-ism in jamaica that led to the birth of the Rastafarian Movement in Jamaica. And I would like to add to that, that Rasta is an evolutionary process, always growing and not getting stuck. Rasta is growing, and because of this, has many, many issues to deal with as it become cross-cultural. "Ras" means "Prince", and that is what Rastas consider themselves: Princes (sons) and Princesses (daughters) of His Imeprial Majesty.

>I am trying to find out if there is a general consensus among Rastafarians that Christianity, be it through Jewish or otherwise Interpretations, is the only means for evaluating history and the cultural values of other people even Africans who are tied to a richer legacy.<

History is just what it is, no matter what lenses it is viewed through. As the saying goes: there is three sides to the story, your side, my side, and the Truth. And I personally feel it a shame that many Africans deny the Ancient African Jews both in Ethiopia and other places on the African continent. I also would have to say that most Rastas that I know personally would never deny the rich African history, religion and culture, through all it's diversity and differences. Even before the advent of Western, European Christianity (aside from Ethiopia, of course) there was many, many wyas and beliefs, tribes, languages, ethnicities, and cultures throughout the African continent. I do feel that many African Americans that are trying to reach back to Africa for their Roots deny this reality. Africa was never a utopian place, as there is craziness and sin everywhere the Human Race dwells. The first African slave sold was a servant of the Ashante King, to the Portugese, for want of guns and power. The devil knows no boundries my Brother.

>As a student of history I went through all the speeches and the history of Selassie and in my opinion (if I am entitled to have one on this forum) he did not say any new thing inspiring that cannot be found in the works of people like Garvey, the philosophies of Dogon people, the rich legacy of Egypt (before the first Europeans conquered there), the ancient Africans of India, China etc.<

As a student of history myself, I totally and whole-heartedly agree. Much, much history found everywhere on earth. There is no "this-or-that" when dealing with Life, too many complexities involved for such over-simplifications.

As far as the working of JAH, JAH has been manifested in the physical many times throughout history, in my personal view of things. When rasta say that HIM was before Creation, one has to realize that HIM=JAH for the Rastafari Brethren, so therefore it is not untrue to make that claim that HIM was before creation. HIM represents, to the mystical Rasta, JAHS physical manifistation, so therefore we are speaking of the Eternal as seen through the physical existence of Haile Selassie I.

>The natural lifestyles - like what can be found on IanI Website - with all the experiences with the forces of nature, existed long before even the word Rastafari and certainly long before the modern movement. How could anyone try to claim that these natural ways and realizations that came from those states can be credited to any one group of Africans and not the common states of mankind?<

I personally see it as the common natural state of mankind. I don't go with the over-simplification of Life, seen?

>The ancient Egyptians said "Man Know Thyself" (this was a Greek translation) and Rastafarians today say one have to know "I and I" which to me means the same thing. How could one be modern and the other obsolete and why don't some Rastafarians understand they are the same things?<

InI=JAH in Man. And when Man knows thyself, they will know JAH. Truth can never be obsolete.

>If people do not want to discuss these things then all this talk about spirituality is a waste and the Religion will not be properly understood.<

The reason Rastas say that Rasta is not a religion, is due to it's lack of organization, dogma, creed, bishops, etc. To the many Rasta, these things only bring corruption, poli-tricks, and power play. And yes, I do agree that the many facets of Reality need to be Reasoned and learned. Ignorance is bliss, but is also our downfall.

JAH LOVE
Rastafari
Jeff
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( Omawali ) I can easily go along with most of what you have said for now and I hope you can understand that as a student of history even though I am an African I hold no one greater than myself as it is myself (inner essence) that has to do all the reasoning to traverse this life. I respect the truth of everyone and I detest the notion that something should be accepted as fact without a reasonable explanation. (For the fundamentalists)

In my earlier Coptic studies 'Ras' had a different but loftier meaning, which I would share when I put my hands on my old Coptic texts.

I also feel the real meaning of the word religion is lost to many people. The word religion was coined from the Latin root words "RE" which means "BACK" and "LIGON" which means "to hold, to link, to bind." Therefore, the essence of true religion is that of linking back, specifically, linking people back to an original source.

A practical way to accomplish this would make interesting discussion, but it certainly cannot be about understanding any one group of people but an overall understanding of the relationship of all of life to the whole. This has to be done from the human aspect all the way back to the source in order for people to be truly conscious. (Again this is my view.)

Some of us may have a head start because of how we viewed life and the choices we made in relation to other humans and nature. To me the keys are improving one's character and understanding history through a guided multidisciplinary approach.

In my view everything else is pointless. I hope others share their views on this and not feel that exploring more is disrespect to a belief. Actually it is the only "respectful" (will define later) thing to do.
________________________________________________________

( IanI Rastafari ) Irie Ites Bredren an Sistren

Let me see if I can give the I's some clarification as to Rastafari. As me say before Rastafari is a Wisdom. With that Wisdom comes a realization of living Life. IanI do not con-form to "religions" or "worships" or "dogma" of any organized "belief system". IanI look into the Heart/Mind, knowing that the Almighty Creator has endowed each and every One with this Wisdom. It is merely a matter of the Realization of this Truth, that Forwards IanI to the Higher Heights of this Awareness.
With this Awareness and Wisdom comes the Forward Movement. And the Forward movement brings IanI to the Roots of Life and Living. Life in Harmony with all other Life and Creation. Seeing Nature as the pure and simple gift of the Creator in which the Creative Force of Love is manifested. Peoples have been forever Living this harmonious Life, but many have been led astray by the lure of Babylon. That is, the corruption caused by greed and vanity, lust and desire.

This overstanding and Livity can only help Humanity to leave behind the ways of the wicked that enslave the peoples minds and bodies. That keep the peoples in a perpetual state of want and longing. That con-vince the peoples that them be worthless and this peoples be better or of more value than that peoples!

The Wisdom of the Ages has been with IanI forever and no Rasta would reject them bredren and sistren from any of the roots peoples of indigenous Africa, or any other part of the earth! IanI Rastafari give great respect to them that Live Life in Natural Harmony with the earth. Seen.

There were those in Jamaica, Omawali, that came to the awareness that the British rule and the British life-style and 'religion' was a grotesque corruption of the Natural State of Being. And the colonialization and downpression of the African people, in Africa as well as in the diaspora, was finally brought to light for its wickedness, and not it's "civilization" and "redemption" of an already fine people. And so, those that saw the corruption, left. Left it all behind! Rejected it's lifestyle, it's form of government and it's religion. Rather than accepting the white British king... IanI peoples rejoiced in the news that Africans have a King! It must be overstood what the African slave children in this caribbean had been brainwashed with in education and government and religion. This island small majority of white British wealthy ones were harshly ruling a vast majority of black, poorly educated, terribly religiously brainwashed, Africans. Rastafari view bredren such as Marcus Garvey with the greatest of respect. He is looked upon as a prophet by many. There is no seperation of IanI, but realize that there are those that simply wish to take on the cloak of British thought and "civilization" and destroy the people that live simply and naturally. And IanI Rastafari cannot and do not and will not accept that!

I be hoping that this can make some of Rasta Livity more clear. I always welcome reasoning that leads to positive overstandings. Seen.

Guidance and Protection
IanI Rastafari

From the Rastafari Speaks Message Board ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xHow can the Rastafarian movement benefit all people?``x997340400,81502,Rasta``x``x ``xDeclaration:

i. Sources, Causes, Forms And Contemporary Manifestations Of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia And Related Intolerances

ii. Victims Of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia And Related Intolerance

iii. Measures Of Prevention, Education And Protection Aimed At The Eradication Of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia And Related Intolerance At The National, Regional And International Levels

iv. Provision Of Effective Remedies, Recourse, Redress, Compensatory And Other Measures At The National, Regional And International Levels

v. Strategies To Achieve Full And Effective Equality, Including International Co-Operation And Enhancement Of The United Nations And Other International Mechanisms In Combating Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia And Related Intolerance, And Follow-Up

(Click URL for relevant links)
http://www.racism.org.za/documents/declaration/index.htm
``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xNgo Forum Declaration Working Draft For Durban ``x997544859,79839,History4``x``x ``xLibya has pulled off something of a diplomatic coup. Catching more powerful rivals like Nigeria and Egypt by surprise, Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi's regime has quickly marshaled many of the nations of the continent behind a plan to establish an African Union. The proposed political and economic bloc, which is set to replace the 38-year-old Organization of African Unity, is designed to more effectively manage the continent's affairs as well as its relations with the rest of the world. If all goes to plan, the Union's executive council, parliament, court of justice, peacekeeping force and financial institutions will foster greater cooperation, end wars, promote prosperity and evolve into a single political body to rival NAFTA and the European Union. As Africa's leaders gathered in Libya this week to discuss the Union, Dr. Ali Treki, the Libyan secretary for African unity, spoke to TIME Cairo bureau chief Scott MacLeod about the future of the continent.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,101184,00.html``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xTime Interview with Dr. Ali Treki on African Union``x997632686,10732,History4``x``x ``xLETTER FROM: Celtaca@webtv.net
I saw your old misinformed site about Asians coming from Africa, perhaps you did not see the special about this topic on the Discovery Channel, it has already been confirmed through genetic testing of a Homoerectus found in Asia that Asians descended from the Homoerectus. And of course it also featured that Native Indians and Caucasians both alike descended from Asians with geographical differences changing us sightly physically over a period of about 45,000 years.

The Out of Africa theory maybe true but only for the black race most likely.
________________________________________________

EDITOR: Amon Hotep
It is not the most pleasant thing to have to admit that all manner of people including the vile and corrupt came out of Africa and are part of the same human family. Sometimes I feel it may have been nice if the flawed multi-regional theory could have been true. But as nature also intended for humans to learn from the shortcomings and successes of each other, I see purpose and design, and then all is well. Many today, in light of all this technology and information still need educating and civilizing. Take your time and read! I'll keep updating this page.

Why Skin Comes in Colors

August 28, 2000
DNA analysis tracks Silk Road forbears

Modern humans migrated out of Africa into Central Asia before spreading both east and west into North America and Europe, says an international team of scientists who have used modern DNA analysis to trace ancient migrations.

"Around 40-50,000 years ago, Central Asia was full of tropical trees, a good place for hunting and fishing," said Nadira Yuldasheva of the Institute of Immunology at the Academy of Sciences, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Dr Wells and his colleagues believe that their work also traces the expansion of the Indo-Iranian people known as the Kurgan civilisation, or more popularly Aryans.

"We have a diagnostic Indo-Iranian marker," he said, referring to one of the Y-chromosome mutations. More
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August 13, 2001
Major genomic mitochondrial lineages delineate
early human expansions

After the out of Africa, modern humans first spread to Asia following two main routes. The southern one is represented by haplogroup M and related clades that are overwhelmingly present in India and eastern Asia. The northern one gave a posterior radiation that, through Central Asia, again reached North and East Asia carrying, among others, the prominent lineages A and B. Later expansions, can be detected by the presence of subclades of haplogroup U in India and Europe. There were also returns to Africa, most probably from the same two routes. The return from India could be detected by the presence of derivatives of M in Northeast Africa, and the arrival of Caucasoids by the existence of a subclade of haplogroup U that, today, is mainly confined to Northwest Africa. Full Article
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The prevailing view, known as the "Out of Africa" theory, holds that modern humans evolved from a common Homo erectus ancestor in Africa. Homo sapiens then left Africa and spread across the world, displacing other hominid species such as Neanderthals.

The competing theory, called "regional continuity," contends that Homo erectus came out of Africa and modern humans evolved from Homo erectus in several different places - what are now Africa, Europe and Asia - with interbreeding between the regions. More
________________________________________________

Other Views

Fourth Pre-Human Skull Found in Georgia (Yahoo)
Tuesday August 14, 2001
Homo ergaster falls in between the more primitive Homo habilis and Homo erectus, a robust creature with advanced stone tools that most scientists thought was the first to move out of Africa to populate Asia and Europe. Modern humans originated in Africa. From there bands of hominids migrated first to the Middle East, then throughout Europe and into Asia.

But exactly who moved away? A single population of already-evolved Homo sapiens? Or did several groups of more primitive humans migrate separately, then evolve independently into the modern variety?

Evolutionary geneticists struggle with this question, scrutinizing DNA samples from around the world for tell-tale variations. Until recently, they have relied heavily on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Now, new studies using nuclear DNA are changing the debate. http://www.rps.psu.edu/0101/africa.html

http://sdmc.krdl.org.sg:8080/bic/groups/
OUT OF AFRICA, INTO ASIA

A debate of long-standing interest in human evolution centers around whether archaic human populations (such as the Neanderthals) have contributed to the modern gene pool. A model of ancient population structure with recent mixing is introduced, and it is determined how much information (i.e., sequence data from how many unlinked nuclear loci) would be necessary to distinguish between different demographic scenarios. It is found that ~50-100 loci are necessary if plausible parameter estimates are used. There are not enough data available at the present to support either the "single origin" or the "multiregional" model of modern human evolution. However, this information should be available in a few years.

Here are some links from that program. Please try reading:

For more information, please read Latest Homo erectus of Java: Potential Contemporaneity with Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia, in the journal Science.

Canadian analysis challenges theory of human evolution
http://www.discovery.ca/Stories/1996/12/13/02.asp

The "Nanjing Man" finding was recently published by the respected U.S. journal Science, which said the "Nanjing Man" dating was consistent and would now allow a more accurate assessment of early migration out of Africa and Asian evolution.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/reu/20010220/nanjing.html

Evidence suggests that Homo erectus arrived in Asia from Africa almost 2 million years ago, and evolved there in isolation, possibly surviving up to less than 50,000 years ago, when modern humans moved in.
http://dsc.discovery.com/stories/science/stoneages/turkana.html

From a variety of different hominids one emerged 2 million years ago, Homo ergaster, 'working man'. These early people were carnivores and predators, and began to move out of Africa into the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
http://www.discovery.com/diginets/international/europe/highlight5.html

New research supports 'out of Africa' theory of human origin May 11, 2001
Click here for more links

IF YOU COME ACROSS ANOTHER VIEW SEND THE LINK TO US!``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAsians came from Africa?``x997674377,65450,History4``x``x ``x( Dwayne ) Is It Wrong To Cut Your Beard?
________________________________________________________

( Akinkawon ) Once it's your beard go brave!

How people deal with hair on their body is mostly about symbolism and hygiene.
________________________________________________________

( Woizero Sera'el Tafari ) Sad to see that the only response to such an important question/issue is this flimsy answer. Gone are the days when the Rastaman was proud of his precepts, taking the vow of the Nazarite to neither use comb nor razor.

Honestly, I was looking forward to see more fundamental reasoning on this issue coming forth, particularly from brethrens. To I, frivolous matters have generated much more responses on this board.

I still hold out hope in seeing some serious reasoning on this matter from Rastaman who proudly carry their precepts.

Love and Fire
Sis. Sera'el
________________________________________________________

( Sandra ) Such an important question/issue to you, and you spent your time trying to make a federal case without explaining how it is so important to you?

I would like to hear your reasoning please.
________________________________________________________

( Woizero Sera'el Tafari ) Rastafari,

As I said before, Because this matter directly relates to the Rastaman, as he is the one who carries a beard, I was hoping to get much more feedback from him.

However, for I, one of the most important reason for a Lion carrying his precepts/beard, is to physically manifest him being a "Lion", with a mane (beard); where on earth have you seen a lion without a mane, and as I said in my previous response, the most fundamental reason is in the vow that he takes as a nazarite to neither use a comb or scissors/razor.

I Majesty
________________________________________________________

( Jenny ) Are you speaking about symbolizing a lion or magically turning into one?

We should also mention the male dominating and lazy characteristics of Lions.
________________________________________________________

( IanI ) Irie Sistren
In the Name of the Almighty Most High
Jah Rastafari

Yes Dawta Sera'el. Be patient, seen, all IanI not always pon the machine here right away to give response! :) Right.

Yes... the Vow of the Nazarite fe true. But it no be just blindly following some "rule" or "regulation", and it no be for no "symbolism", and it no be for no lion look-alike kind a thing. IanI Rastafari always look higher to see the Reality of the Covenant. And to IanI Rasta, the hair been placed pon IanI head and face by the Creator in the creation of Perfection and IanI no scrape that off, or cut at it, or put no chemical upon it to change it and such. Seen. What come Natural no one is to con-vert! The Almighty create IanI here in HIM own image and that is to be exalted and honoured!

All the other man-made "rules and codes" are just that... man-made, and IanI Rastafari live by the Laws of the Almighty, the Natural Laws. Nature a the Hand a the Almighty Creator and IanI give thanks and praises to the Almighty in humbleness and respect-fullness. The beard grow upon me face as the Will of the Creator, and Rasta honour that Will. Seen.

ONE LOVE/HEART/MIND
Give Thanks
Guidance and Protection
IanI Rastafari
________________________________________________________

( Ayinde ) IanI, when you have the time could you expand on this some more?

Are Rastafarians not supposed to cut their fingernails or toenails also?
________________________________________________________

( IanI ) Irie Irie
Give thanks Ayinde!

The I truely got me smiling here now!
Yes I... can be a puzzlement, no?
Well, I be asking the same sort of things to me own Rasta Father all the while! "Hey what!? Everything that grows from me body me just leff alone!? How can that be?"
We have some ROARING reasonings pon this! Man... me tell you fe true!
And Him say... "Watch. Sit there pon the rock an watch them goats them there. Or them bird there. Them go get nail sissor and cut them nail or them claw? Them grow sed way... no? So why them no get a sissor and cut them nails?"
So me say, "But wait... what them do then to get the nail out a them way? It can't just grow forever? Them go get too long!"
So... some things me no get the Fullness of. I have a hard time reasoning pon some of them. But I know what Iya say be true. The other living things them no have no sissor and them no have no comb and them no have no straightening iron and such... and them all alright! So what...?
Is a Natural thing me know, so how IanI deal with it? How do them before the sissor deal with it? How do them before the sharpen rock deal with it? Maybe the finger nail used a different way then IanI use it here today? Maybe it have a good use and so the Almighty put it there for that very use that IanI no seem to have here now? Maybe if IanI live a more Natural Life the nails them keep sort of close by digging and such? I know some of me locks them get long and them ends drop off...

Is a puzzlement fe true... but IanI no keep I-self in con-fusion about these things. Me just see what me can see and keep to look for the Fullness in All things.

Give thanks, Ayinde. A good reasoning!
Guidance and Protection
ONE LOVE
________________________________________________________

( Ayinde ) The real reason is not too difficult to understand but before I explain what I learnt about how the beard and dreadlocks developed to importance, I should explain what I was taught when I was searching and ended up in Trinidad by a Man somewhat like yourself.

He told me when I couldn’t unravel a mystery by observing nature, I had to revisit human history as the disruption and confusion is usually as a result of human intervention.

It took me several years to realize how much most people live disconnected from our ancestors and nature and as such we remain unable to understanding the workings of the SELF through the limited self in man. I had to be born anew into a way of viewing everything. (He does not say God like many people, but he speaks of the self. The Lower part of the self in all things in relation to the Inner Higher SELF of the Universe.) I observe people on several Websites and discussion groups explaining things this way today and immediately I know where they got it.

Lets see if other Rastafarians expand on this discussion if not I don't mind explaining what I discovered about dreadlocks and beards. Do you know they are connected to the wigs Judges wear?

I saw you smiling for the first time.
I see.
________________________________________________________

( IanI ) Yes I. A Wise One, the man from Trinidad. I allways find great interest and some revelation in the study of human history. At least what me can find that has been recorded, and scrutinize through the bias and partiality! And the mind MUST heighten and unfetter from the brainwashment of ages.

And I also find great enjoyment in true reasoning with me bredren an sistren! Not simply repetetive dogmatic rhetoric.

Give thanks, Ayinde.

Tell I a bit about the judges wig. Me no know that story. But me know them judges!

feel free to e-mail, Ayinde, if you wish.

ONE LOVE
Guidance and Protection

From: Rastafari Speaks Message Board``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xIs It Wrong To Cut Your Beard?``x997686000,17404,Rasta``x``x ``xIn the 1950s and 1960s in South Africa, the oppressiveness of apartheid enveloped many blacks who formed a silent majority. Apartheid means strict segregation of people based on race.

One person whose life was dedicated to the fight against apartheid was Steve Bantu Biko. When Steve was born on 18 Dec. 1946, his parents appropriately chose the name "Bantu" which means people.

Steve started fighting for people's rights while studying medicine in college. As a delegate for an organization called the National Union of South African Students, Steve participated in an annual conference. During the conference in July 1967 at Rhodes University, Steve became insulted when he and other black delegates were given accommodations further away at a church hall. Yet, white student delegates were placed on-site at the university residences.

Steve began to question the point of liberal groups comprised primarily of white persons. He advocated and formed a group two years later whose membership could only be black and named it the South African Student's Organisation (SASO). The goal was to remove the inferiority complex many blacks had and replace it with a positive social image.

This became known as the Black Consciousness Movement. Steve believed that blacks had to be in leadership positions and that only blacks could push the liberation movement. If white people did this for blacks, then this would reinforce the idea that blacks were not capable of taking control and responsibility for themselves. Steve saw the need to free people from both the physical and mental bonds of oppression.

To help create positive self-awareness in blacks, Steve started night-class schools encouraging education and the development of more skills. He advocated diversity and that each of us has different skills to contribute.

http://www.fallenmartyrs.com/southafrica.htm
http://www.biko.com/
http://home.ici.net/~nikos/biko3.html
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/97sep1/5sep-biko.html

South African activist Donald Woods dies
Sunday, August 19, 2001
Mr Woods had drawn world attention to the case of Steve Biko, the black consciousness leader who was killed by South African security forces while in detention. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xSteve Bantu Biko``x997721858,92253,History4``x``x ``x‘It is a racism that is not just directed at those with darker skins, from the former colonial territories, but at the newer categories of the displaced, the dispossessed and the uprooted, who are beating at western Europe’s doors, the Europe that helped to displace them in the first place. It is a racism, that is, that cannot be colour-coded, directed as it is at poor whites as well, and is therefore passed off as xenophobia, a "natural" fear of strangers. But in the way it denigrates and reifies people before segregating and/or expelling them, it is a xenophobia that bears all the marks of the old racism. It is racism in substance, but "xeno" in form. It is a racism that is meted out to impoverished strangers even if they are white. It is xeno-racism.’
A. Sivanandan, Director, Institute of Race Relations``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe Emergence of Xeno-Racism``x998031600,40896,History4``x``x ``x(Jamaica Observer) THE occasion of the widely publicised United Nations Conference on Racism, offers an opportunity to focus on one of the greatest leaders in racial justice during the 20th century. On this, the 114th anniversary of the birth of Marcus Garvey, we are once again challenged to assess his complex legacy.

While Garvey's contribution to the anti-colonial movement is widely acknowledged, he did not foresee that his dream of African redemption would flounder on the rocks of genocidal war, man-made famine and disease. Neither could he have known of the predations of the black business and political elites, for whom he sacrificed so much in their creation. Further, his exhortation to black people 'Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will' - has given way to deep insecurities and ambivalence, ensuring the revival of white supremacists values, made even more effective by an all-pervasive electronic medium. More``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xMarcus Garvey's journey to Heaven``x998031600,3692,History4``x``x ``xFrom: Tarikh Tehuti Bandele
Ankh Udja Soneb.

There are many, many issues within this article, both from the writer as well as the mental condition many of us still suffer from.

As I read, thoughts were literally racing around in my third eye, amazed (but at the same time understanding) that many of us (as Afrikan people) continue to legitimize our malignant self-hatred. For example, the writer writes "...nobody will ever accept us like we must learn to accept ourselves". Should this be on our agenda as we walk trance-like into the 21st century??? Should we even be concerned with what other group of people 'accept' us??? Indeed, we must learn to embrace ourselves. But for some, as is evidenced all throughout this article, this is extremely difficult and challenging to do.

Next, this writer postulates the same assumption that "...we wouldn't be here in the first place without the cooperation of Africans selling off their brothers from other tribes (a french term that did not exist in Afrika before European occupation)." First, there were some Afrikans that PARTICIPATED in the selling of other Afrikans during our Maafa (e.g. Tippu Tib, an East Afrikan who saw himself more as an Arab than an Afrikan; he also assisted Henry Morton Stanley in his 'opening up' of Congo). But what this writer (as well as Brookings Institute member Henry Louis Gates) fail to mention is that 1) there was no rampant shipping of Afrikans to the New World BEFORE European conquistadors came into Afrika; 2) serious disadvantages existed between Afrikans and the encroaching Europeans; and 3) Europeans were able to exacerbate the differences and skirmishes that existed between different NATIONS (not 'tribes'). Interestingly, some individuals, for obvious reasons, always seem to overlook these and other factors (the extreme humanity that existed within Afrikan culture all over the continent; the sincere hospitality that was exercised and practiced by Afrikan people; and our propensity to embrace and 'believe' other people [we have been double and triple crossed several times, and by almost every group of people on the earth; just ask those Afrikans in Ayaiti that assisted Simon Bolivar]).

The article gets intense. The writer himself answers many of his questions right in his article. His cultural confusion is blatantly obvious at times, especially where he writes: "That's why I use the term Black, although I use Afrikan American to describe our original heritage". First, he uses a term (black) that was placed upon us to describe how we, as Afrikan people, look. Black, however, does not tell us anything else about us. The name that a people refer to themselves should connect them with land, history and culture. With all due respect to those who use the term, black only tells us what we look like, not where we come from.

Second, the statement "...although I use Afrikan American to describe our original heritage", is misleading and nowhere near factual. Why doesn't the term Afrikan American describe our original heritage??? Because our 'original heritage' does not begin in 1619. Contrary to popular opinion, we are a very old people. If the term Afrikan American describes our original heritage, then our beginnings only go back 382 years. Maybe this is all the writer is willing to acknowledge, as he writes throughout the article "...that thought is depressing", "But that's another painful story", and "To think otherwise is too painful". True, we have had very painful episodes in our COLLECTIVE history, but we should never let that pain dictate to us how we will deal with our past, present and future.

As far as the "hair and color problem", the writer never acknowledges the origins of this self-hatred. A good example of this tendency among the Henry Louis Gates types in our community (to overlook the origins of the extreme self hatred among many of us) is where the writer offers "A recent Jenny Jones show featured Black women who had been teased as young girls in school...Pearl, 23... had been teased by Anthony, 24". Jenny Jones, as well as the writer of this article, both make it appear that Anthony was the source of Pearl's self hatred as a child, when in fact, Anthony was just as much a victim as Pearl was. This self hatred has been passed down from generation to generation by those of us that feel (or felt) that we are not beautiful unless we resemble Europeans. This phenomenon did not begin with Pearl, Anthony, Jenny Jones or even the writer. This phenomenon began when the first European told an Afrikan that he/she was ugly because he/she did not resemble that European. It has been exacerbated by countless Afrikans that have been mentally rewired into believing that they are worthless without permed hair, thin lips, eagle-beak like noses and light skin. This is still among us today.

Also, the self-hatred that is evident in individuals like Anthony, Pearl and the writer ("I've had this hair and color problem since i was a kid"; "I wanted to be Black as Nat King Cole. Conked my hair like his once".) is allowed to exist, in part, because so many of our parents and elders have failed to instill in some of us self confidence and self worth. Many of them are too busy trying to 'look appealing" (i.e. other than themselves) to concern themselves with instilling self-confidence and self worth in younger Afrikan people. Thus, many of us have no firm sense of self, making it extremely easy for people and cultures outside of ours to dictate how we should look and what we should purchase to make us look a certain way.

Just like in Toni Morrison's brilliant opus, The Bluest Eye, many of our children are debilitated mentally because they are being inundated with the notion that everything that is beautiful is European.

The writer then writes: "Finally, in the 1960's came the voice of Malcolm X", implying that with the entrance of the message of Malcolm X, self-hatred began its decline. I beg to differ with this contention. Why??? I differ with this contention because there have been countless others BEFORE the 1960s that have attempted to instill in us a firm sense of self. Whether or not we listened to them and embraced THE MESSAGE is something totally different. As far back as the 1790s, people like Paul Cuffie, Prince Hall, et al. were trying to instill in us a love of self (otherwise, why would Prince Hall name his Masonic Lodge the Afrikan Lodge???). In the 1800s, several individuals came along to relay the same message (Henry Highland Garnet, Martin Delaney, David Walker, et al). Forty years before Malcolm burst onto the scene, the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey was teaching the same message of self-love and self worth. This is not an attempt to belittle the work and contribution that Malcolm X did and made.

Malcolm played a major role in quickening the tide that had always been there, in the quest to teach Afrikan people to love themselves as they are.

Lastly (but not least), I find it interesting that the writer postulates the notion that thick lips, broad noses and locked hair are, basically 'the rave' among Caucasian people. Indeed, there have been several (no, numerous) European people (women in particular) that have gotten their lips surgically enhanced, their hips surgically widened, and their behinds surgically enhanced. But, has this been because Afrikan people have, for the most part, embraced their Afrikanity??? Right now, Afrikan women are the biggest purchasers of hair relaxers and such items. Right now, bleaching creams (Ambi, Noxema, etc) are being sold in large numbers in several countries on the Afrikan continent. Right now, some communities spend more money on malt liquor than the same state (where these communities are) spends on education (for clarification, please read Blueprint for Black Power by Dr. Amos N. Wilson). As a whole, our spending power is more than 530 billion dollars, making us the 10th richest nation in the entire world (in terms of economic strength). However, of those 530 billion dollars, not a whole ten percent of the money comes back into the Afrikan community, into Afrikan hands and Afrikan businesses. So, when we see Jeep and Pepsi and Coke and American Airlines and hundreds of huge corporations lacing negro T.V. viewing time (i.e. when shows that are predominantly Afrikan casted are aired on television) with cool commercials that show Afrikan people driving cars and drinking Sprite and flying with Continental Airlines, it is not necessarily because we are loved or we have finally arrived or even because we have overcome. To the contrary, it is because 530 billion dollars is a lot of money.

Now Get Up.

Tarikh Tehuti Bandele'

SOULONE.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xBeing Too Black??? ``x998069265,71169,History4``x``x ``x(Tim Wise) Here we go again.

In a time of multiple school and workplace shootings, middle-aged mass murderers, drug-saturated rave parties, and moms who drown their kids in tubs, lakes, or dump them in garbage cans, one question comes to mind. How long will suburban white America get away with expressing shock at the criminal proclivities of its progeny, without media exposing their presumption of incorruptibility as fallacious and patently racist? Especially when government statistics indicate deviance and dysfunction are quite commonplace with such folks and in such places.

On Sunday, August 12, the front page of the Washington Post brought us yet another story about white suburban youth, who, to the amazement of their parents, friends, and the media, turn out to be stone cold criminals. This time the headlines emanate from "nice neighborhoods," in Northern Virginia: places where sinister crimes aren't supposed to happen.

But, as authorities have discovered, one of the most significant drug operations in the region's history was being run from this "nice, safe" place. And not by dark-skinned street-hustlers preying on vulnerable teens and getting them hooked; but rather, by the former soccer-playing little leaguers who this nation grooms to run major corporations, hold political office, or merely typifies as normal, all-American boys.

In this particular drama, one of the principal players, named (I kid you not) Owen Merton Barber IV, stands accused of murdering Daniel Petrole Jr., one of his drug-dealing colleagues at the behest of yet another fellow-dealer, Justin Michael Wolfe.

Seem implausible? Surreal even? Thanks to well-worn stereotypes about drug users, dealers, and criminals in general, we've come to expect the bad guys to look like them. Black and brown people, not those who are white like us. When we have to protect ourselves from folks with names like Owen Merton Barber the Fourth, well, what is the world coming to?

Actually, although underreported, drug data has long confirmed that the stereotypes of users and dealers (poor, black or Latino, and urban-dwelling) are not only racist, but also wrong.

According to the National Institutes on Drug Abuse, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Department of Health and Human Services, whites are equally or more likely to use drugs than their African American counterparts, despite common misperceptions to the contrary.

Although blacks and Hispanics tend to try drugs for the first time at a slightly younger age than whites, by the end of high school, whites have caught up and surpassed them in every drug category. White seniors are a third more likely to have smoked pot in the past year, seven times more likely to have used cocaine, three times more likely to have used heroin, and nine times more likely to have used LSD. And it's not just that there are more white users, as this would reflect mere population percentages, but rather, that the white rate of use is that much higher than the rate for blacks.

It's the same story for young adults. Whites are 66 percent of 18-25 year olds, but 70 percent of drug users that age. Blacks are 13.5 percent of persons in that age cohort, but only 13 percent of young adult users, while Hispanics are nearly 15 percent of that age group, but only 12 percent of drug users 18-25.

When it comes to drug dealing, the picture changes only slightly. According to the Justice Department, drug users tend to buy from same-race dealers. So the nearly three-quarters of users who are white, mainly rely on white dope peddlers, not the Jamaicans or Dominicans of popular imagery. And when it comes to drugs like Ecstasy -- a hot product for the Virginia cartel -- the dealers and users have long been known to be mostly white, middle class males between 14 and 32.

But one would know none of these things from reading the Post story on the recently uncovered suburban drug empire, or drug related articles in any other nationally-prominent paper. Instead, white suburban dealers and users are presented as exceptions to an otherwise law-abiding rule.

In the instant case, the accused, from the Prince William County hamlets of Chantilly and Centreville are youths who reporter Josh White describes as "good kids," who "went bad." When was the last time a black or Latino drug dealer or gang-banger was described this way? To those who study media, implicit in most news coverage when they do it is the suggestion that it's because they were congenital criminals; it was their IQ or pathological underclass families. They don't "go" bad, they just "are" bad.

But when stories are written about pale-faced killers or dealers, or in this case both, sympathetic adjectives fill the pages. Crime becomes human interest -- a cautionary tale. We are encouraged to identify with the instigators of the mayhem in ways we never would be were they dark or poor.

For example, Kip Kinkel, 1998's poster boy for school shootings, was likened in the major media to MAD Magazine's Alfred E. Newman: freckle-faced, and the "boy next door." Similar descriptions were offered for the school shooters in Arkansas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Even Columbine shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, described by classmates as "dark and brooding," were still referred to by many as "basically normal," and gave off no warning signs in the eyes of Littleton families, teachers, or law enforcement. Andrea Yates, the Houston suburban mom who killed her five kids in their bathtub was described by one major newsmagazine as having "loved her children too much," and having been "overwhelmed" by the responsibilities of keeping hearth and home together.

And listen to those quoted in White's story. First there is Prince William Detective Greg Pass who explains, "None of this happened in bad neighborhoods...It bothers everyone involved that in many ways these kids are mirror images of the detectives working the case, except they have chosen to go the wrong way." Sympathy, recognition, identification, and all of it, by the officer's admission, due to the fact that these kids are "mirror images" of the detectives themselves. And what does one see in the mirror after all? One's face: one's white, middle class suburban face, to be precise.

Throughout the Post piece the ringleaders of this marijuana and ecstasy empire are described as kids who "went to church," "sold Christmas trees at the mall parking lot," were "polite, shy, friendly, non-threatening," "clean cut," "cautiously pensive," "kind and gentle," "fun-loving," "the class clown." The kind of boys who "you'd want your daughter to date," and who have been known to nurse sick birds back to health, "romp down the soccer field," and whose hooliganism was limited to writing their names in wet cement.

The alleged shooter, "relished fishing with his father along the Virginia coast, where the two would exchange high fives when reeling in a catch." Barber's father -- that's Owen Merton the third for those keeping count -- insists the family was solid and led a "normal life." Forced to contemplate what went wrong with his fishing buddy, he speculates that perhaps watching his mother die of cancer convinced his son "life wasn't important anymore." Again, sympathy conjured up for the wayward white youth, in ways that would be highly unlikely for an inner-city kid: even one who had watched his mom die of cancer, as many have, or perhaps had friends who had been killed or jailed.

The young man accused of ordering the hit on Petrole is described as a "role model for his brother and sister," a "religious Catholic," who is intensely "spiritual." For his part, Justin Wolfe is presented as a helpful son, who assisted his single mom in caring for his younger siblings. When was the last time the child of a black, inner-city single mom was applauded for helping out around the house?

And throughout the story we learn that the parents of these budding gangsters never suspected anything, even as their early-20's offspring jet-setted to Hawaii or Atlantic City, and bought $200,000 townhouses with their own money. As an additional sign of the times and the stupendous denial that afflicts so many white upper-middle class families, Petrole's father actually believed that his son was able to buy his own home because he had been lucky dabbling in the stock market. After all, said Petrole Sr., his boy always wanted to be an entrepreneur. As indeed he was. So should we now expect national condemnation of the culture of affluence and the capitalist emphasis on moneymaking as being implicated in these crimes? Don't count on it. That kind of analysis we reserve for the "underclass" values of ghetto-dwellers.

As evidence of how strong the stereotypes are, consider that at the height of his criminal activity, Justin Wolfe dated the daughter of the head of the DC regional office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, without being suspected of anything. The agent, having no doubt memorized the darker profile of a drug dealer used by law enforcement, naturally had no clue. Wolfe, according to DEA agent Frank Chellino seemed "well-mannered" and "stable."

Perhaps white folks in the ‘burbs need to stop listening to the voices of officialdom or the media, and start listening to the only folks who seem to know the score: the dealers themselves. As one associate of the accused explained: "American society doesn't want to face the fact that white kids deal and use drugs. They simply can't look in my face and see that a nice-looking white kid is selling drugs to their kids, because that would mean that their kids could do this too. The fact is, we do sell drugs to their kids, in their rich neighborhoods and in their rich schools."

Just as the media generally "deracializes" incidents of white deviance, portraying them as the aberrant, inexplicable acts of aberrant, inexplicable individuals, (unlike the same from the dark and poor which are often portrayed as group tendencies), so too did Josh White in his piece on Wolfe, Barber and Petrole. Instead of pointing out the fallacies of white suburban denial and the blindness that besets so many of the residents in these "nice," places, White and the Post offered up a quixotic melodrama: good kids gone wrong; sympathetic, misguided youths posing as hardened criminals and coming to a tragic end.

Powerful to be sure, but far too narrow a truth, lacking as it did the contextual information necessary to understand the common phenomenon of white substance abuse. Unfortunately, facts unspoken or unreported tend to remain hidden. The debilitating stereotypes they might unravel remain firmly in place. And those who have convinced themselves that it couldn't happen here remain in danger.

Tim Wise is a Nashville-based writer, lecturer and antiracism activist. He can be reached at tjwise@mindspring.com. Footnotes for this article can be obtained from that same email address.

Comment on The Blackboard``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xA New Round of White Denial: Drugs and Race in the 'Burbs``x998086273,59407,History4``x``x ``x( Akinkawon ) As a brother said before, Racial and Gender issues are the two interconnected issues that all people should be addressing. These are the central issues if people are serious about, justice, harmony and unity. If there are Rastafarians who feel that these are not core issues then I know they are far from the path to consciousness. It took centuries to develop some unsociable habits and everyone should give time to addressing these bad attitudes. Rastafarians like any other group cannot unite unless they address these issues as a collective and give adequate ventilation to better values that respects all people, male and female, black and white, and all others in-between.

You cannot respect people in ignorance of their history and without giving proper recognition to their sufferings and struggles. As Africans we demand this of all our oppressors and is in like manner some of us acknowledged the shortcomings of many of our ancestors and the vile, contemptuous character of many Europeans who contributed to the colonization of both people and minds.

It is with the understanding of better social values; some of us recognized that the rights males fought for were equal to the rights and freedoms of Women. Who can deny that Women were reduced to a life of servitude? This was not done deliberately by most males but resulted from that lost of empathy that came with the disconnection from a more natural way of life alongside the loss of our African folk stories?

Who, other than those who know history from both the male and female points of view can empathize with the whole human family? Absolutely no one!
We cannot take the position of not focusing on these things that deny freedom of choice and by extension consciousness in favor of not rocking someone else's poorly analyzed position. Some say lets not focus on the woman lets focus on JAH, but in the mean time they condemned Europeans who were making similar arguments.

Many Europeans were saying, lets not focus on the past lets look to the future. Stop bringing up the injustices, lets move on, while they build monuments and compensate each other for sins of the past. They dare not tell that to the Jews who are trying to corner the world market on sympathy. Are they the only ones who should remember the past and be compensated?

Today while the hearts of some Europeans are softening we see some Africans have learnt well the language of their former oppressors. Today, even on this message board, there are ‘Africans’ who are calling on other Africans to forget injustices and focus on God/JAH.

Should a more informed person give way to such immaturity? NO! No, it is the less informed that should give way to learning and sharing. A more informed person, be he or she, Jew or Gentile, African or European, can assist in shaping better values.

So brothers and sisters learn of the struggles of some Women and weigh their words well. Leave out the corruption of misrepresentation and look at the issue in the same way you were called upon to examine the oppression of the Euro-centric system against Africans. It is these struggles, which gave birth to the Rastafarian Movement.

If I am misguided in my belief that the Rastafarian movement could represent a better standard and model for all mankind, then I humbly apologize.
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I's Open

( IanI ) Irie, Irie

Well said for true... and no need to apologize.

In all me years of reasoning and listening and meditations, one of the most valuable lessons me learn is that no 'group' or 'movement' can organize without Wisdom as them guide. And is true that not everyone in the 'group' is of the same Awareness, the same consciousness. You see?

And this be where the issue of 'judgement' comes in. IanI must know right from wrong in order to reach Awareness and Wisdom. And IanI must be able to look at any given situation and determine it's correctness or it's folly. And so where does this determination come from? If me look upon the oppression of the Queen and say, "That no right!" Where has that Knowledge come from? Me know in me very inner depths that it no 'right' to downpress any Life... but to some, them no see that Fullness. Some a them just keep stuck pon one aspect of a situation and don't bother to look no further. Them say, "Glory be to God! Me see the Light!" But them only see the very distant pin-point of Light and never trod no further.

Many have attempted to drag and pull those of little consciousness (kicking and screaming at times!) into a greater Awareness. Wise words have been written and spoken in speeches and recorded on tape in the great hope of making others see. And often those wise words have been mis-taken and mis-used, clung to in their mis-taken-ness, leading 'groups' and 'organizations' into despair! More trivial issues become magnified and the Truth gets buried in the rubble. This has become obvious, to those that look, in the Babylonian 'civilization'. Vanity and greed get the focus, while Awareness and Wisdom get forgotten.

While I whole Heart-ily agree that knowledge of peoples history is an important thing... me seen that even those without this education can reach great Wisdom. Because consciousness comes from the Heart/Mind and one must have the drive to seek it. And continue to seek it in all it's Fullness. Not just be content to listen to others and 'follow', but to realize that the Almighty has given all IanI this Wisdome and Knowledge, right here in the Heart/Mind.

So, while I can look for right from wrong and determine the Truth, I must never place no 'judgement' upon those that have not achieved a Higher Awareness. If them wish to seek it and grow, then IanI can offer what Life has come to teach. But if them no care and simply wish to live them life blindly or to simply 'follow' without looking, then them Life will bring them their just reward. IanI cannot force no consciousness upon them.

Them that know Rastafari are the One that ever-looking, ever-living, ever-forwarding. And even if I no know you history, Jah give IanI that Looking, the Awareness to realize Truth from falseness, and forward pon the road of Love that leads to justice, harmony, balance, overstanding, honesty, integrity, equality, co-operation and I-nity! And this is how me know a Rasta when me meet One, and IanI I-nite in all the Joy of Living!

Me know suffering when me see it... me know oppression when me see it... me know persecution when me see it... me know subjugation when me see it. But is only because me Looking that me see! So, yes I, Akinkawon! IanI MUST LOOK! Throw off them blinders and seek Jah Guidance and all IanI Bredren and Sistren I-nite in Awareness, with Joy and Harmony. Rastafari forward in I-nity because of Love and Joy. When IanI have open I's, then I-nity is assured.

Give Thanks and Praises
Guidance and Protection
IanI Rastafari ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xRace and Gender, the big picture ``x998243934,77266,Rasta``x``x ``x( Jamaica Gleaner ) By Norman Francis, Contributor

THAT RELIGION is regarded by some as another opium of the mind is no doubt reminiscent of Karl Marxis's famous pronouncement that religion "is the opium of the people".

Thus, Otto Maduro, himself a Marxist, correctly admits that religion has served as "one of the main (and sometimes the only) available channels to bring about a social revolution." But just how does religion function as an instrument of social change?

It does so by evoking a new awareness among the people, thereby providing them with an alternative consciousness to that of the dominant culture. This counter-consciousness is rooted in an understanding of God as the supreme Ruler, who, contrary to the god of the dominant culture, is not a mere instrument in the hands of the 'haves', but is free to act according to his own purposes of righteousness and justice.

The process of dismantling the oppressive structures in any society must necessarily begin by bringing to public expression, the pain of the suffering masses. In so doing, religion is able to lead persons to an understanding of why things are the way they are, to empower them to take responsibility for their own lives and to initiate the process of change. This is the most fundamental level of change ­ the liberation of the mind!

It is precisely at this point that those who are exploited, marginalised and without hope are energised by a new spirituality that leads to the discovery of new possibilities and of hope, based on God's freedom to act with justice. Again, it is religion that brings to public expression these new possibilities, and contrasts them with the existing powerlessness of the present order to deliver the quality of life expected of it. And, as the process expands, similar changes will inevitably engulf communities, institutions, and ultimately entire nations.
MORE PART 2: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xPART 2: CHRISTIANITY - Time for a wake-up call``x998262329,14303,History4``x``x ``x( Jamaica Gleaner ) THE FAMOUS socialist statement on religion has become one of the most enduring thorns in the side of the believer. However, there is another not quite so famous position on the topic, to the effect that religion is perhaps the only motive force in the world - but you have to reach someone through their religion, not yours.

Fortunately ­ or unfortunately ­ Christianity is also the dominant religion in Jamaica and hence the discussion will concentrate mainly on it.

Any belief system which is accepted and promoted by the ruling class will eventually be the proverbial 'opiate of the people', having them in a stupor of expectation of hardship - and actually welcoming it as some 'test'. It will eventually be used to entrench the position of the elite, and this is no less the case in Jamaica.

Christianity is not merely an opiate of the people in Jamaica. It is more of an anaesthetic, having the nation in an unthinking, unfeeling, helpless state to which it has agreed, hoping that when it opens its eyes again the surgeon will have done a miracle.

Instead, we are finding that the person with the scalpel is really an organ thief and when Jamaica awakens something vital like a kidney will be gone. Or we will not awaken, because the heart has been taken away.
MORE PART 1: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xRASTAFARIAN - Christianity has Jamaica asleep ``x998262697,1110,History4``x``x ``x(Stewart Synopsis) David Horowitz is probably the leading American reporter who parades the Reparations Topic for whitewash and defeat. It is obvious that Mr. Horowitz, like many other Americans, must have gotten an "A" in 10th Grade American History but failed World and Ancient History and common sense.

Who's afraid of the big, bad Horowitz? By refusing to run his ad blasting reparations for slavery, cringing campus journalists are giving the racial provocateur publicity that money can't buy. David Horowitz is having a ball (9 Mar 2001 Joan Walsh). Horowitz’s troublesome theories are full of many huge holes. He has debated Dorothy Lewis on national television and Tim Wise. More``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xTen Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea``x998537029,350,History4``x``x ``xIn the book The Power of the Pride, by South African Ian Thomas, you learn that lionesses do most of the hunting, that they are fast and powerful, pro-active for their family's survival, and that they understand that if they have no food they will not eat and will ultimately starve.

The lionesses, of course, in addition to providing the food for their pride, also give birth to and raise their cubs. They train those cubs to be productive members of their pride.

So too with the women of Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, women food farmers produce 80% of Africa's food, do 90% of the work to process Africa's food, do 80% of the work to transport and store Africa's food, do 60% of the work to market Africa's food, and provide 90% of the water, wood and fuel. You are about to be introduced to a program run by the Hunger Project of New York that awards great respect to this incredible performance.

We expect you will leave this article and your study of the Hunger Project with a sense that the more responsibility assigned to the women of Africa, the faster Africa will develop and the faster all Africa's people will have the chance to achieve their rightful destinies.

Much of this article was taken from one written by Hamilton Vokhiwa for the African Church Information Service, August 13, 2001. Inserts of additional and amplifying information were made by Your dot com for Africa. August 20, 2001
Go to full article``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xStrategy to defeat the apartheid of gender in Africa``x998636809,82039,History4``x``x ``xA Ghanaian secondary school teacher visiting London recently would not believe that a black man invented the traffic lights. "What?," he asked in utter incredulity. "How can a black man invent the traffic lights?"

Well, you can imagine the sort of education this secondary school teacher has imparted, or is imparting, to his students, not out of malice but sheer ignorance. Which speaks volumes about the kind of education Africans receive. All said, this Ghanaian secondary school teacher genuinely believes that black people "cannot or do not" (his words) invent things, they buy other people's inventions. Well, there is something here for him.

A new textbook, Black Scientists and Inventors Book One, published in London recently by BIS Publications dismantles the notion that black people are not inventors.

Co-authored by Ava Henry and Michael Williams (both directors of the London-based BIS Enterprises Ltd), the book is designed for use by children aged 7-16. "It is our hope that parents and teachers will help the children on this journey of knowledge and discovery," say the authors.

The issue of black inventions, like slavery and reparations, is now top of the topics in the Black Diaspora. Black people are finding it increasingly difficult to understand why, even in the Internet era of openness and liberalism, black inventors and scientists are still denied their due recognition. And this is despite the fact that there are records showing that right from ancient times, a number of key inventions that the world now takes for granted were made by black people. More``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xBLACK INVENTORS AND SCIENTISTS``x998661865,26354,History4``x``x ``x( JAH Truth ) Dear Rastas,

Greetings in the name of his imperial majesty, king rastafari i, who dwells forever in our spirits, as does satan, fire burn satan. Listen all those who are reading, king rastafari died on the cross for us! And whoever gives his sins to god, in the name of his son, he shall recieve the gift of righteousness, and shall work for heaven eternal. And never see hell! Thats why i, jah truth, who is living on earth in sodom and gommorah, and watching every wicked thing that the beasts of the earth are doing to the world, gathering their recruits for hell, I come as a shephard. I come in the name of christ. To speak the truth, and whoever puts faith in christs truth shall live forever. The lord god makes me speak no lie towards his precious stones. All rasman and raswoman, rastafari works in i, as bishop in the united states of america. I come to gather the flock, noah gathering the people before the flood, but in the second advent jah come with fire! The almighty really made sodom and gommorah hell, the fire is hot in the states, making the devil tempt the angels, all day, fire burn! We must build the temple of god in america! We must come together, physically and spiritually, and build the temple of god, in america, and whoever enters into the temple, will be saved from the soon to come destruction of the almighty god, jah! Rastafari!

I am in florida. North east florida. Many of you are far away from me. What I am saying is if we all come together, and buy our own land, and build our houses and set up camp in one location, we can have the house of the true god! King rastafari i, built here, or whatever location we come together to do! They did it in jamaica! They did it in africa! And kenya! Lets do it in america! God conquers the devil! This is the indians land, but really belongs to the righteous! Let us come together so we cant see no sin! We will just see heaven! Lets do it rasts! Lets make america paradise while we can! Lets do it, we can recruit people day and night, saving people from hell to come, or when they die! Rastafari! Jah!

"Come my sisters and brothers, motivate our mothers and fathers, we got works to do, works to do, works to dooooo!"

Let us please do this now, and not stall! Let us do it now! I am poor, I will sell my posessions for rastafari! Lets make a rasta camp or something, so we can be saved, and just stay far from the wicked! We dont need devils around us! We just need love! Which is jah! God! All people, repent to rastafari for all yours sins, what you did last night, or last week, repent! Please rastas, lets warn the united states what is to come! We need a movement or something! We need to warn! Unless you are afarid to die for what you believe in! You afraid of the devil? Conquer the devil! Work for rastafari! Face the truth!!!!!!

Jah rastafari! Is the almighty, who knows your imaginations, put recieve him, and recieve heaven eternal, all people, living right and happy forever, no bills to pay, just herbs and fruit to eat, and praising jah before his throne forever!!!!!!!!
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( LUBA ZEBBY ) Thank you so much for posting this Topic of Rasta WORK. I also am a firm believer that We as a RastafarI Collective that chant down babylon must look and listen to what King Haile Selassie I, Honorable Marcus Garvey, Robert N. Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Mutabaruka, Isreal Vibes...all them are talking about the Liberation of AFRICANS.....Rastafari is a Freedom Fighter for Mama Africa and so InI Must also work.

The Uhuru Movement is putting much needed financial resources back into the African Communtiy, into African populated schools, African communities get Health Food Stores and health care.

There are NO Race Riots in Beverley Hills
Revervations are NOT RESORTS!

so why are the white communities so rich and the african communities so poor?

why do African men go to prison for 30 years for stealing while White men get 12 years for Serial Rape???

ALL YOU WHO SING ALONG TO SONGS LIKE AFRICA UNITE AND BLACK MAN REDEMPTION, PLEASE PUT DOWN YOUR SPLIFF AND GET UP, STAND UP AND WORK! AS BOB SINGS EVERY DAY IS WORK!

Uhuru!
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( Akinkawon ) Is your proposal up for discussion with other Africans or is it a 'done deal' exclusive for "Rastafarian" comments and support?
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( LUBA ZEBBY ) Which proposal?

This message board is called RastafarI Speaks if I am not miss-taken. I personally well-come the input of progressive people but I also know talk is talk....we as a collective must also Do.

So if you please post your thoughts.
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( Akinkawon ) ( JAH Truth's plan or idea. )

The problem is, when one person or group has an idea and that person is so convinced it is right, he or she does not like discussing it. Then, they accuse others of not supporting the idea. I hope this is not the case.

If you start with the notion that by setting up a group in a location the rest of the picture will fall into place, then history bears wittiness to that failure. Simply because if people cannot agree on a definition on who qualifies to be a Rastafarian, then all you would have is an array of impoverished people coming together with the hope and intent of fulfilling their own material gain, then as soon as there are funds in the account, infighting will take place.

Even with a 'semi-defined' people, we are left with the examples of the Jews in Israel and their ongoing conflict because of they trying to defend an ideal that makes no sense to others. We have other examples of this in Africa, Europe and India.

If the wider community does not agree with your policies and have little or no understanding of the group, they would fear such an organization and would do all in their power to ensure it fails.

Further to this if you are firm about setting up a separate lifestyle that the wider public does not understand and appreciate, it will have to be defended with military power and then you are back to square one, just like everyone else who tried to live apart and are having conflicts all over the world.

Even if a group 'succeeds' in setting up a different social model, they would still be under the jurisdiction of international policies and laws and as such would be alienated and or have many legal battles.

I could say more but I don't want to be too long.

Do you think people could discuss this some more?
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( LUBA ZEBBY ) ++ Simply because if people cannot agree on a definition on who qualifies to be a Rastafarian ++

I want to know why people look for Validation of being a "rastafarian" in other people? It is NOT the Next Man that Determines weather one is or is Not a Rasta. So I dont ask others to accept me or approve of me simply because I am not here for them but for H.I.M Selassie I.

+++ If the wider community does not agree with your policies and have little or no understanding of the group, they would fear such an organization of people and would do all in their power to ensure it fails. +++

The "Wider Community" is Curruptable and Blind. This wider community loves Oprah, Mercedes and MTV....its so sad. Yes they have a REASON to Fear because they KNOW they are Brainwashed and this thought that Does not A-line with their own must be wrong.

Failure is up to you. Martin Luther King was Killed, Peter Tosh was killed, Malcolm X also Killed...but I know their name, why? how? the struggle continues and as Long as I have breath I will fight babylon mentallity.

+++ Further to this if you are firm about setting up a separate lifestyle that the wider public does not understand and appreciate, it will have to be defended with military power and then you are back to square one, just like everyone else who tried to live apart and are having conflicts all over the world. +++

Yes Back to Square One is True, but why do we keep trying? because the Wickedness that rules the masses is just that, Wicked. You can Fool some people some of the Time but You CANT fool ALL the People all the time. I choose not to be a fool.

+++ Even if a group 'succeeds' in setting up a different social model, they would still be under the jurisdiction of international policies and laws and as such would be alienated and or have many legal battles. +++

ABSOLUTLY! many Battles is what it is all about!, otherwise I might as well bend over and give them my ass for a good punking.

++Do you think people could discuss this some more?++

I am NO Different, I want people to see my side and Agree with me and Not Argue against me and Not Challenge me. Just like the next man that does not like those that dont agree with him.

I will try but I AM Partial to my Views and my life and the Struggle of AFRICAN People.

RastafarI Worked for the Liberation of AFRICANS and we as rastas MUST do the SAME!
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( Akinkawon ) Conscious people work for the liberation of anyone and all who seek assistance and can either learn or show the deep connections in our cultural ways.

I know that people who do not share common values cannot cooperate and be successful as a people and would spend most time squabbling.

>>> I want to know why people look for Validation of being a "rastafarian" in other people? It is NOT the Next Man that Determines weather one is or is Not a Rasta. So I dont ask others to accept me or approve of me simply because I am not here for them but for H.I.M Selassie I. <<<

That is an unfortunate corruption of the meaning of 'a definition' and you completely misunderstand the purpose of defining one's space.

Defining space is the only way you can show your entitlement to a space. Without definition it is common property and cannot be the exclusive domain of any one group.
It has nothing to do with looking for validation in other people.

If you are building a house and cannot show or map out the boundaries then all can encroach, but with clear definable boundaries, you are claiming your space. However if no boundaries are necessary (this is the ideal) then there is nothing to associate around and no need for a separate group or space. How are you going to build the house?

>>>> Yes they have a REASON to Fear because they KNOW they are Brainwashed <<<

A person cannot know they are brainwashed, they could be aware something is wrong and unaware how to improve, but to know one is brainwashed calls for the person to be conscious and such a person would know he or she was brainwashed, (not is brainwashed.)

>>> Yes Back to Square One is True, but why do we keep trying? because the Wickedness that rules the masses is just that, Wicked. You can Fool some people some of the Time but You CANT fool ALL the People all the time. I choose not to be a fool. <<<

But sir, you will be a fool if you do not give these ideas careful consideration. It is foolish to do the same thing, the same way, over and over and expect a different result. You have not proposed anything different to what has been tried.

>>> ABSOLUTLY! many Battles is what it is all about!, otherwise I might as well bend over and give them my ass for a good punking. <<<

Carefully defining ones plans and putting them up for scrutiny by those who share similar objectives is the best way to engage a battle. It helps to examine what was tried and learn from the mistakes. History is important here.

>>> RastafarI Worked for the Liberation of AFRICANS and we as rastas MUST do the SAME! <<<

It is non-Rastafarians who first engaged the struggle for the liberation of Africans and the modern Rastafarian movement was born out of the struggles of non-Rastafarians. Some Rastafarians did and do struggle for the liberation of others, but the order was and is African first. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xRastafari Needs Help?``x998753846,64693,Rasta``x``x ``x(Shasta Darlington) RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Dining at posh restaurants and strolling through upscale malls may not seem radical, but for Afro-Brazilians this is in-your-face activism -- aimed squarely at the myth of "racial democracy" in Brazil.

"The biggest cruelty we face is invisibility, the feeling that we don't exist," said Benedita da Silva, the vice-governor of Rio de Janeiro state and before that the first black woman elected to Brazil's Senate.

"We make up half of the population, but for the most part we don't occupy decisive political and social positions," she said. "We live on the margins, in the ghettos where people can't see us."

While many Brazilians argue that the country has been more successful than the United States in creating a multiracial society, critics say Brazil has ignored deep-seated racism for more than a century -- simply because racism was never institutionalized in segregation or apartheid laws as in other countries.

Activists are hoping a United Nations conference in South Africa this month will force Brazil to confront racism at home and will raise support for a wide range of proposals on better health, eduction and jobs for blacks.

In an effort to show just how absent blacks are from Brazil's upper and even middle class, activists have invaded locales where blacks are rare: exclusive Sao Paulo restaurants or shopping centers along Rio's beachfront promenades.

Joni Anderson, the owner of Agencia Noir model agency, has staged protests he calls "blackouts" outside fashion shows to demand more black models. He also rents limousines and sends his models to chic restaurants and theaters to make a statement.

"When a well-dressed black couple walks into an expensive restaurant
everybody assumes they're American. We want to alert people that this kind of racism is going on," he said.

BLACK DOESN'T SELL

The myth of a racial democracy in Brazil has persisted, however, due to the subtle nuances of prejudice and to the success of blacks in specific fields. Pele, the king of soccer, is by far the most famous Brazilian in the world, for example.

Blacks have traditionally excelled in music and sports, often becoming
ambassadors for Brazilian culture the world over. But at home they complain of police harassment and social insults.

Outside of Carnival season, black women accompanied by white men are often assumed to be prostitutes and black visitors to wealthy condos or high-rise office buildings are still often sent to the "service" elevators.

"Middle-class blacks exist and they live in condos, they just better not show up at the pool," said Ivanir dos Santos, president of the Center for the Articulation of Marginalized Populations.

In a bid to emphasize how few inroads have been made, Santos stormed a
fashionable Rio mall last month with dozens of black protesters decrying the minuscule number of black salespeople and shoppers.

"They say we don't sell, it's not a good image," he said.

Even attempts to appeal to Brazil's black middle class, like the foundering "Raca," or "Race," magazine, have not been very successful because blacks themselves avoid being pigeonholed, activists say.

Only 5.4 percent of Brazilians identified themselves as "black" in the last official survey while 40 percent say they are "dark-skinned" and 54 percent say they are white.

Brazil has one of the world's most progressive anti-racism laws but activists say the country has to take the next step, promoting integration and level the playing field for those who still suffer social and economic exclusion.

"It's not enough to have laws that prohibit, you have to have laws that obligate," said Santos.

In preparation for the U.N. meeting in Durban from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7,
delegates are pushing proposals that range from controversial quotas in public universities to work training programs and funding for research of diseases that plague the black community.

INEQUALITIES PERSIST

Almost half of Brazil's 170 million people are "Afro-descendants" but more than 100 years after the end of slavery, huge inequalities persist, according to the government's own statistics.

Unlike the United States, Brazil justified slavery on purely economic
grounds, not on racist arguments, creating the largest slave economy in the world to power its big agriculture and mining sectors. In 1850, Brazil finally agreed to halt trading in slaves, but didn't actually free slaves and abolish slavery until 1888.

"The gap between whites and nonwhites is the same as a century ago," said Alexandre Vidal Porto, a member of the government delegation headed to South Africa this month and an advisor to the Justice Ministry's human rights office.

"Brazil was the last country to abolish slavery. Maybe there isn't any formal segregation but there is a bias or handicap still faced by the black population," he said.

In 1999, Brazil's whiter half still earned more than double what blacks earned. While only 8 percent of Brazilian whites were illiterate, 20 percent of blacks couldn't read or write.

Still, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's administration argues that it has done more than any previous government to combat racism and that it is one of the few governments in the world to openly admit the problem.

In a bid to enforce Brazil's much-lauded anti-racism laws, Cardoso's
government installed anti-discrimination centers in 21 states where people can call in to report racism and hate crimes. The government also recognized the existence of racism in Brazil in a report sent to the United Nations.

But activists are hoping that the U.N. meeting will be a kind of catalyst for new "integration" policies.

"We are expecting a concrete measure from the government before we get on a plane for South Africa," said Santos. "We are hoping for something that will promote black education or jobs ... quotas are one possibility."

The government has resisted the idea of quotas but is still pushing for schools in former runaway slave communities known as "quilombos," funding for job training for blacks and training programs to promote blacks in the diplomatic corps.

"We have swept away the myth of racial democracy, now we're trying to deal with the legacy of slavery," Vidal Porto said.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xBrazil's blacks battle myth of "racial democracy"``x998921073,20449,History4``x``x ``x(Barbara Crossette) HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - On the edge of Atlantic Canada, far from the American South and the slave-trading ports of Africa, a long-established community of black Canadians is beginning to join calls for reparations for slavery and for greater recognition of their history.

Like civil rights campaigners in the United States, black Canadians want their voices to be heard in Durban, South Africa, at the end of August at the United Nations international conference on racism and discrimination. That is especially true in this port city, where a once strong black community is in the midst of a cultural revival.

The black residents of greater Halifax - in the old city itself, across the harbor in Dartmouth and in the semirural township of Preston - form one of the oldest and largest black populations in Canada, their leaders say. Black immigrants arrived along with the French, British and Scottish settlers of the British colonial era.

"Well, you won't hear much about us on the regular tours," said Carolyn Thomas, as she guided a visitor around the Citadel, the fort that looms over the town of Halifax. Black residents say it may have been built in large part with forced labor by the Jamaican Maroons, sent here in the late 18th century because they were troublesome to the British in the Caribbean.

Although most of the Maroons were again forcibly moved, to help colonize Sierra Leone a few years later, hundreds managed to stay.

That is part of what Ms. Thomas calls "the other half of the story" of Halifax. In the mid-1990's, she and her husband, Matthew, distressed because black Nova Scotia seemed invisible, took early retirement from their government jobs to start Black Heritage Tours. It is still a two-person operation.

A former teacher and government affirmative action director, Ms. Thomas, 58, said she had not been able to increase significantly the participation of black residents or the inclusion of their history in the mainline tourism industry, which is important to the local economy. The struggle continues, she added.

"All traces of segregation were not removed from our statutes until 1954," she said, about the same time as the Supreme Court decision in the United States outlawing school segregation. Before that, most black students here had no opportunity to go beyond eighth grade, she said, and, "that denial included the denial of our history."

A conference on racism and discrimination - a kind of warm-up for Durban - was held here in early August. Among the organizers of the Halifax conference was Esmeralda Thornhill, who holds a chair in black Canadian studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax. She told a local newspaper that if governments could address the Holocaust, the incarceration of Japanese during World War II and the forced movements of indigenous people, then "reparation talks for slavery are needed to address the legacy of colonialism."

Black Canadians, whose ancestors were enslaved under both British and American rule, fear that their government will join the United States in trying to keep the issue off the agenda.

Greater Halifax has 12,000 to 15,000 black residents out of a population of close to 400,000. Their ancestors include slaves freed by the British in colonial America in return for their labor or willingness to fight for England in the Revolutionary War or in the War of 1812. Others escaped slavery along the Underground Railroad, often with help from Quakers.

"In my grandmother's house there was always a picture of the Quakers," Ms. Thomas said. "It was in my mother's house, too. Like by osmosis, it became part of my life. The picture now hangs over my computer."

Some people owned slaves in Nova Scotia, but slavery was not much in evidence by the time it was abolished throughout the British Empire in the 1830's. Black residents here say that there are enduring wounds, though.

When their ancestors arrived, they were given far smaller plots of land than white Loyalists, and rural townships where they were settled lacked basic services.

Ms. Thomas said that when she taught school three decades ago in Preston, there was no bus service or snow plow. Community leaders shoveled their way to the end of the bus line to take her to school.

The story of Africville is not a happy one. Black historians say it was settled by blacks in 1796 on a lush meadow beside Bedford Bay, outside Halifax. It was bulldozed away in the 1960's to make room for an approach to a bridge and other development. Many families who had built homes over several generations, scraping together savings from their wages as servants and porters, were moved. A park called Seaview was built where their community once stood. The name Africville disappeared from the map.

"The destruction of our community meant the loss of the physical - the land; the spiritual - our church, and the community - the people," said Irvine Carvery, president of the Africville Genealogy Society, founded to keep its history alive. "These three things had worked in harmony, cultivating the heritage and culture that allowed us to survive over two hundred years of exclusion and marginalization with a sense of worth and dignity."

Pictures and objects from old Africville are on display at the Black Cultural Center for Nova Scotia in Dartmouth, where black history has been reconstructed from the limited documents available, along with the stories of a rich oral tradition handed down through families and churches.

The center, which has grown steadily since its opening in 1983, promotes the achievements of local black heroes. They include church leaders like the 19th-century pastor Richard Preston, founder of the African United Baptist Association, a strong force for development in the region. It has a library and works by black artisans on display and offers musical performances to schools.

Linda Carvery, a Nova Scotian singer and actress, called the impact of the center phenomenal. On a recent morning, she brought her grandson, Dwayne Carvery, 8, to look at the exhibits. "To see these things is wonderful for our self-esteem, our being," Ms. Carvery said.

Like some other black Canadians, Ms. Carvery said she regretted that black Americans did not seem aware of these communities.

Matthew Thomas recalled that some years ago, when he and his wife were invited to speak at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, a black American asked afterward, "Where did you say you were from?" When he answered, "Nova Scotia," the response was, "We didn't know we went up that far."

Mr. Thomas said he told them, "Well, we've got news for you."

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

This has been posted for comments. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xBlack Canada Lifts Its Voice and Seeks the World Stage``x998921710,52321,History4``x``x ``x(Gwynne Dyer) Human beings, most philosophers would agree, are not a resource. (Human Resources Department, please note.) But since the rise of civilisation most human beings have been treated as an economic resource, and often treated very badly.

Indeed, five or ten per cent of all the people who have lived during the past 5,000 years have probably been slaves.

This makes it hard for today's Africans or African-Americans to claim compensation for the enslavement of their particular ancestors, just as the multitude of misdeeds committed in the name of nationalism over the years makes it implausible for Arabs to insist on singling out Zionism as a form of racism.

But these conflicting claims threaten to sabotage the global conference on racism that opens in Durban, South Africa, on August 31.
Who cares? Not the conference-going classes, certainly.

Washington has said it will boycott the conference unless the organisers drop the nonsense about condemning Zionism and demanding reparations for slavery, but around 10,000 of the usual suspects will go to Durban and enjoy a week of networking by the sea regardless of whether all, or some, or none of the US delegates show up at the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. (I know, they left out tooth decay.)

With or without a stripped-down, low-level US delegation, the conference will go through the motions (affecting the real world not one whit), and then they will all go home several good lunches heavier. Yet an opportunity is being lost here. The old "Zionism is racism" accusation has been allowed to steal centre-stage from a much more important debate about slavery.

Zionism is not racism. It's merely 19th-century European nationalism exported to the Middle East. It doesn't treat minorities well, but which old-fashioned European nationalist movement ever did?
The Arab states who forced the "Zionism" references into the conference texts were indulging in pointless point-scoring.

The slavery allegations are important not because 10-15 million black Africans unwillingly crossed the Atlantic as slaves between the 17th and 19th centuries, but because today's Africa is the world's poorest and most troubled region. Those demanding reparations for slavery are effectively saying that that's the reason for Africa's present problems, or a big part of it.

Today's African-Americans also tend to live near the bottom of the local heap in the US, Brazil and the West Indies: all places where the lighter you are, the higher you are likely to be in income and social status. A lot of people blame that on the legacy of slavery too.
The Durban conference would not have settled these issues for us, being an event where the working language is Cant, but if it hadn't been hijacked by the Zionism issue it would have stimulated a very useful debate around race, slavery and history.
The debate about all that is not now going to happen in Durban, but we can have a bit of it here anyway_and you have to start by splitting it in two down the middle of the Atlantic.

There is no evidence that the slave trade did any lasting harm to Africa as a whole between the 17th century and the early 19th century (by which time the British navy had effectively ended it). To remove an average of say, 60,000 people a year from regions of Africa with a total population of over 50 million would have had virtually no long-term demographic or economic impact, especially since the process did not involve European invasion and conquest.

The African kingdoms who raided their neighbours or enslaved their own lower classes for sale to the Europeans would have behaved in much the same way if there were no overseas market for slaves. Smaller tribes and kingdoms occasionally got smashed, but that was always happening anyway.

European colonisation in South Africa was a disaster for the local peoples, but elsewhere along the African coast things were not significantly different in 1800 than they had been in 1600.

By contrast, full-scale colonisation by Europeans after about 1875 had a huge impact on Africa, both negative and positive. Whether the negative aspects outweighed the positive is still deeply controversial: for example, much of Africa is now worse off economically and socially than it was before decolonisation in the 1960s. But that argument is about colonisation (which also happened to most other places); slavery had nothing to do with it.

The true victims of slavery, unsurprisingly, are not the descendants of the people who sold the slaves but the descendants of those who were sold. Though more than half of African-Americans in the United States and smaller proportions in the West Indies and Brazil have now made it into the middle class, a hugely disproportionate number remain outside it.

If it were simply "racism", more recent non-white immigrants to these countries would suffer similar disadvantages, which they obviously don't. Specifically, being the descendant of a slave is a huge social and economic handicap in the Americas. As to how much of this disadvantage is due to majority prejudice, and how much is the internalised residue of past trauma, consider this.

In Britain, where majority attitudes are less prejudiced because there has never been large-scale slavery at home, they track the performance of various ethnic groups in the schools. African-Americans (almost all from the West Indies, in Britain's case), come dead bottom in the rankings. Recent immigrants from black Africa come absolute top, ahead of Chinese, Indians, whites and everybody else. What's the difference?
Maybe it's that these Africans are not descended from slaves.


* Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

This has been posted for comments. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe legacy of slavery``x998922638,97554,``x``x ``x( RootsWomb(man) ) RELIGIOUS FANATICISM (excessive and irrational enthusiasm or zeal for a belief or cause)

IS RASTAFARI ALSO EFFECTED BY THIS?

Once again, much Raspek is due unto the I's (Ras Jahaziel) Epistles! The I has spoken TRUTH, and we all know that TRUTH stands on its own. It is in that Spirit that InI would like to address this very issue of RELIGIOSITY which also PLAGUES Rastafari. We ALL should know that when the finger is pointed out, there are always three pointing back at us. Part of the Healing of the Nations, and Afrikan Liberation, is not only to REVEAL the destructive OUTTER influences which plague us, but most importantly, how those ideals have been ingrained into the Mindz of the Black Nation, and to COURAGEOUSLY tackle our own "dirty laundry", so to speak. It is much easier to point the finger at the origin of the infection, than to begin to cleanse its stench and foul pus.

The Global White Supremist System has affected ALL of Creation and Her children. Only a fool could deny the RESIDUAL effects of the Afrikan Holocaust which continues to plague us. Indeed, the I mention Willy Lynch, which is an excellent point. Would the I agree that Willy Lynch is just as pleased with the ongoing effects of his MIND-SET inna Rastafari as he is with the rest of the Black Nations? Can it be denied that Rastafari Houses are also GUILTY of "allowing IGNORANCE and FANATICISM to disguise itself as RIGHTEOUS ZEAL for the cause"? When the Nyahbinghi House chants down the next house (or vice verca) because one sights "Jesus Christ" as being the "savior" while the other sights Gad, and yet the other sights or Prince Emmanuel, or Rastafari? Can it be denied that Rastafari also suffers DISUNITY and STAGNANCY due to squabbling over who is the "true messiah" and over the Divinity and Deification of Haile Selassie I? How many Rastafari Idren beat the next Idren over the Divine Nature of this god-man as opposed to INCULPORATING his Teachings and his Examples? It is in InI opinion (due to experience) that Rastafari sons and dawtahs spend much more energy in "comparing notes" (as to this house's principles/tenets versus that ones) than we do in Pan Afrikan WORKS. It is oddly remiscent of the the "jesus freaks" who exhault much more energy squabbling over the deification of the MAN rather than his teachings…

Is it so far fetched to say that the FALSE interpretations of our Afrikan Sacred Texts and Teachings have also bled into Rastafari? (EXCLUDING the Koptic Teachings, Faith, Church and Traditions of Haile Selassie and Eastern Koptic Christianity) Is it so far-fetched to admit that the OPRESSOR'S teachings and mindset also affect Rastafari? If RELIGIOSITY has effected the ENTIRE GLOBE, than how has Rastafari not been effected, seeing that we are still using his interpretations of the bible? How many Rastafarians actually follow the SAME TRADITIONS as His Majesty? How many Rastafarians read The Gospel of Myriam? How many venerate Myriam as did His Majesty? How many study Ge'ez and follow the ceremonies of the Koptic Church? How many Rastas have read the Quran, the Torah, etc, as did His Majesty? How many Rastafarians DEIFY the man rather than actually FOLLOW his teachings? Is Rastafari also guilty of BLIND FAITH and religious (King James) fanatisism? Who can deny having experienced the chanting down of one house or the other in the name of biblical differences, this scripture versus that one, and debates over who is the "messiah"? Can it be denied, for example, that the Nyahbinghi House would deny "membership to the inner circle" based on "religiosity" , treatment of the Afrikan goddess (woman), Pauline principles, etc?, or straight out deny the "rastaness" of this or that Idren based on their interpretations, rules, regulations, and order? Does not EVERY RASTA HOUSE consider itself more "rasta" then the next? Its akin to the "brown paper bag test", when degrees of melanin were used to define "blackness", only to turn around and have WE USE IT ON OURSELVES, not only in regards to light-skin/dark-skinn issues, but "degrees of Rastafarianism" based on this one or that one's interpretations, when in fact FEW, and I repeat FEW, actually follow the SAME TENETS AS HIS MAJESTY! Am I the only one to sight a CONtradiction here??

The treatment of RASTAFARI WOMEN and the SEVERE INBALANCE OF THE OMEGA PRINCIPLE is enough to make us realize that RELIGIOSITY and Pauline Teachings PERMEATE our "LIVITI". What about the Idren who INSULTS the Mother of Creation by sabotaging the works of Rastafari Women, in the name of "domestic duties", or chants down the sistren for being "feminists" or "lesbians" when in fact they are merely following the Nyahbingi Priniple of RESTORING THE OMEGA BALANCE? A nation which does NOT uplift its WOMEN is a nation DOOMED FOR FAILURE. The FACT that the eurocentric bible are still regurgitated among InI cannot be denied. The fact that EDUCATION is still considered "Babylon" by many Rases is not only a direct insult to Garvey and His Majesty, but "education" in and of itself is still misinterpreted among InI. Western education is mistaken for ecudation in general. How many Rases chant down the study of Ancient Khemet (Egypt) as being "pagan", STILL NOT OVERSTANDING that Khemet is KUSHITE in its very foundation. How many still chant down the Principle of Osiris and Isis (Auset and Ausar) as being "not rasta", when IN FACT, those very principles are IMBEDED and ORIGINATED out of Ethiopia? (ROOT of Rasta)

Indeed….RELIGIOSITY is alive and well among InI. Fanatisism and intolerance is alive and well inna Rastafari as it is elsewhere.

"Throughout the long history of black struggle for liberation there have always emerged leaders who became "GODS" AND "MESSIAHS". Their exalted status of honor and worship has been in most cases A RESPONSE TO THE SHEEP MENTALITY'S NEED FOR SOMEONE TO WORSHIP. In their SHEEP MENTALITY the people yearn for someone who will be SUPER-MAN, someone who will miraculously do all that they themselves fear to do or fail to do. This IRRESPONSIBLE condition opens the door wide for THOSE THAT CRAVE WORSHIP, and a circle of RELIGIOUS FANATICISM evolves to become an obstacle in the path of that liberation which both leader and follower claim to be pursuing."

"While the political campaigning, the fratricide, and CHARACTER ASSASSINATION is going on, the train of liberation slows to a halt...........AND WILLIE LYNCH LAUGHS. "Well done boys, keep it up"…

THE ABOVE TRUTHFUL STATEMENTS ARE JUST AS APPLICABLE TO SELF (RASTA NATION) AS THEY ARE TO BABYLON (OPPRESSOR)

THE ONLY TRUE "SAVIOR AND MESSIAH" IN THIS IWAH IS NOT IN THE HANDS OF ONE MAN, BUT IN THE RIZING OF OUR COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS AND RESPECT OF OUR DIFFERENCES WHILE ALL THE WHILE HONORING "ONE GOD, ONE AIM, ONE DESTINY AND ONE GOAL".

I have posed many THOUGHT PROVOKING questions, which may or may not present a response, however these questions are questions which we MUST ask of ourselves. It is not my intention to offend but to enlighten and create solutions in order for us to FORWARD IN UNITY UNDER THE BANNER OF THE BLACK, THE RED, GOLD AND GREEN. SELAH.

ROOTS
_________________________________________________

( IanI ) Irie Sistren

How could the I offend when the I writes such Wisdom? Only those that be guilty could be offended... seen.

The Wise One knows an sees the Truth. Perhaps the day or iwah will come when those that no see will recieve the Wisdom and embrace it. If not, sadly they too will go down and not forward. Jah know.

Give Thanks for the reasoning. Is strong and Power-Full!

In the Name of the Almighty Most High
Selassie I
IanI Rastafari

Guidance and Protection ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xReligious Fanaticism: Is Rasta Guilty?``x998929088,43117,Rasta``x``x ``x "Racism has historically been a banner to justify the enterprises of expansion, conquest, colonization and domination and has walked hand in hand with intolerance, injustice and violence."
- Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Guatemalan Indigenous Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
"The Problem of Racism on the Threshold of the 21st Century"

"Doctrines of Dispossession" - Racism against Indigenous peoples

Historians and academics agree that the colonization of the New World saw extreme expressions of racism - massacres, forced-march relocations, the "Indian wars", death by starvation and disease. Today, such practices would be called ethnic cleansing and genocide. What seems even more appalling for contemporary minds is that the subjugation of the native peoples of the New World was legally sanctioned. "Laws" of "discovery", "conquest" and "terra nullius" made up the "doctrines of dispossession", according to Erica Irene Daes, chairperson/rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, in a study on indigenous peoples and their relationship to land.

Specifically, in the fifteenth century, two Papal Bulls set the stage for European domination of the New World and Africa. Romanus Pontifex, issued by Pope Nicholas V to King Alfonso V of Portugal in 1452, declared war against all non-Christians throughout the world, and specifically sanctioned and promoted the conquest, colonization, and exploitation of non-Christian nations and their territories. Inter Caetera, issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493 to the King and Queen of Spain following the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the island he called Hispaniola, officially established Christian dominion over the New World. It called for the subjugation of the native inhabitants and their territories, and divided all newly discovered or yet-to-be discovered lands into two - giving Spain rights of conquest and dominion over one side of the globe and Portugal over the other. The subsequent Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) re-divided the globe with the result that most Brazilians today speak Portuguese rather than Spanish, as in the rest of Latin America. The Papal Bulls have never been revoked, although indigenous representatives have asked the Vatican to consider doing so.

These "doctrines of discovery" provided the basis for both the "law of nations" and subsequent international law. Thus, they allowed Christian nations to claim "unoccupied lands" (terra nullius), or lands belonging to "heathens" or "pagans". In many parts of the world, these concepts later gave rise to the situation of many Native peoples in the today - dependent nations or wards of the State, whose ownership of their land could be revoked - or "extinguished" -- at any time by the Government.

Indigenous leaders today contend that it is essentially discriminatory that native title does not confer the same privileges as ordinary title. According to Mick Dodson, an Australian Aboriginal lawyer, the concept of extinguishment "treats indigenous rights and interests in land as inferior to all other titles". According to indigenous law and custom, indigenous interests can only hold native title, and, according to the law put into place since then by the European immigrants, native title can be extinguished.

Indigenous Peoples in the 'New World'

The world's indigenous peoples - or "first peoples" - do not share the same story of colonization. In the New World, white European colonizers arrived and settled suddenly, with drastic results. The indigenous peoples were pushed aside and marginalized by the dominant descendents of Europeans. Some peoples have disappeared, or nearly so. Modern estimates place the 15th century, or pre-Columbus, population of North America at 10 to 12 million. By the 1890s, it had been reduced to approximately 300,000. In parts of Latin America, the results were similar; in others, there are still majority indigenous populations. But even in those areas, indigenous people are often at a disadvantage. Indigenous peoples in Latin America still face the same obstacles as indigenous peoples elsewhere - primarily, separation from their lands. And that separation is usually based on distinctions originally deriving from race.

Indigenous peoples in the 'Old World'

Among African peoples, there are clearly groups of peoples who have always lived where they are, who have struggled to maintain their culture, their language and their way of life, and who suffer problems similar to those of indigenous peoples everywhere, particularly when forcibly separated from their lands. These include poverty, marginalization, the loss of culture and language, and the subsequent problems of identity that often lead to social problems such as alcoholism and suicide. Because of these particular similarities, many people find it useful and suitable to consider such groups indigenous peoples.

The hunter-gatherer Forest Peoples (Pygmies) of the central African rainforests, comprising many groups, are threatened by conservation policies, logging, the spread of agriculture, and political upheavals and civil wars. They are usually at the bottom of the social structure. It is ironic that modern conservation policies intended to protect species of animals, not groups of humans, forbid many of these hunter-gatherers from hunting.

Nomadic pastoralist peoples like the Maasai and Samburu of east Africa are struggling with the encroachment of farming and conservation into their areas. As they are limited to smaller and smaller spaces, it becomes more and more difficult for them to maintain their livestock, especially in difficult periods, such as times of drought. Increasingly, they are being forced to move to urban areas.

The San, or Bushmen, of southern Africa have in some cases disappeared, or nearly so, as they have lost or been driven from their traditional homelands. Large numbers remain in Namibia, but they are usually impoverished and unable to live their traditional way of life. Many of them, with nowhere to go, have simply stayed, and now find themselves poorly paid laborers on farms - made up of their traditional territory -- now owned by whites or by other Africans.

The Imazighen (Berbers) are the indigenous peoples of northern Africa and the Sahel. The best known Imazighen may be the Tuareg. Most Imazighen who have not been assimilated live in the mountains or the desert. In Mediterranean areas, they have become sedentary; those living in the desert are usually nomadic. Today they exist as small linguistic pockets, with few, if any, cultural protections. Activists are working to maintain their language and culture.

"Well-intentioned" discrimination: the cost

In Australia, Canada and the United States, one practice which has only been recognized as discriminatory and damaging in the second half of the 20th century is the forced removal of Native/Aboriginal children from their homes. In Australia, the practice focused on mixed-race Aboriginal children, who were forcibly taken from their parents and given to adoptive white families. These children usually grew up without the knowledge that they were in fact partly Aboriginal. Today they have been named the "Stolen Generation".

In the US and Canada, Native children were sent to the notorious residential schools, which persisted well into the latter part of the 20th century. Language, religion and cultural beliefs were often the objects of ridicule. Speaking native words was forbidden, and often earned physical punishment - to force a stubborn Indian child to learn to speak good English. Contact with parents and family was often discouraged, or even disallowed. In the worst examples, to discourage run-aways, children were told their parents had died, that there was no home to return to; or, vice versa, to discourage parental visits, families were told that their children had died. In an ironic twist, these falsehoods sometimes proved prophetic: there were cases where children did run away in mid-winter, dressed only in nightclothes, hoping to find their way home. Today it is assumed that they froze to death, as their parents have never been able to find them.

In an earlier age, these actions were defended as being in the "best interests" of the Indian/Aboriginal child, to improve her chances in the modern world. Assimilation was the goal. The value inherent in indigenous cultures and knowledge was not then recognized.

In isolated areas, some residential schools attracted faculty and staff of the sort who prey on children. Extensive physical and sexual abuse has been documented. In North America, as the abuse has come to light, victims have been identified and there have been attempts to provide remedies and retribution.

The United Nations Tackles the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations

The United Nations first focused its attention formally on the problems of indigenous peoples in the context of its work against racism and discrimination.

In 1970, the Subcommission on Prevention and Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (a subsidiary body of the Commission on Human Rights) commissioned Special Rapporteur Martinez Cobo of Ecuador to undertake a study on "The Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations". That monumental study, completed only in 1984, carefully documented modern discrimination against indigenous peoples and their precarious situation. His report catalogued the wide variety of laws in place to protect native peoples: some of these were discriminatory in concept, and others were routinely disregarded by the dominant community. It concluded that the continuous discrimination against indigenous peoples threatened their existence.

The report found that some governments denied that indigenous peoples existed within their borders. Others denied the existence of any kind of discrimination - in contradiction to the reality encountered. It described cases where the governmental authorities, when reporting on the situation of indigenous peoples, unwittingly betrayed their baldly discriminatory thinking. For example, a governmental official in the Americas replied to Mr. Cobo's request for information on "protective measures" by stating: "In our civil legislation, the Indians are not even included among the incapable persons." Another responded: "They are not inscribed in the Birth Register, which means that they have no legal civil personality. They are beings without political, social or economic obligations. They do not vote. They pay no taxes." A judicial decision concluded that an Indian could not be found guilty of homicide because of "unsurmountable ignorance", stating "Although in our country they belong to the category of Citizens with rights and duties…. The Indian does not reach the text of Law. He does not understand it."

The establishment of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982 was a direct result of the Cobo study. Consisting of five independent experts, the Working Group meets annually in Geneva, and, until now, has been the only arena in the United Nations system in which indigenous peoples could state their views. The United Nations International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004) has helped to focus efforts in the UN system on two primary goals: the creation of a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and the drafting of a declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. The draft Declaration is still under consideration by the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the UN Charter body to which the Commission on Human Rights reports, recently took steps to establish the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which will consist of eight governmental experts and eight indigenous representatives. Indigenous representatives will for the first time be allowed to address directly an official United Nations Charter body, ECOSOC.

Due to growing concerns about the environment, the activity undertaken by the Working Group and other United Nations bodies and the advocacy work carried on by indigenous groups and non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples worldwide are receiving increasing attention from their respective governments. Countries such as Canada, Australia and the United States have focused efforts on settling land claims with indigenous groups and on achieving reconciliation for past injuries, including those done in the name of assimilation. In Scandinavia, the native Saami have established a parliamentary forum across their national borders. In Africa, indigenous groups have just begun to mobilize. In other areas, indigenous groups have taken strong positions in defiance of their governments. And in a first, a UN-brokered peace agreement in the civil war in Guatemala gave a specific role to indigenous peoples. But a lot has not been settled.

Retribution: Land claims and more

Native groups have made a great deal of progress in pursuing land claims, particularly in the Americas and Australia. Of particular note is is Nunavut, Canada's newest and largest territory. Established on 1 April 1999 to be a homeland for the Inuit, who make up 85 per cent of its population, it was the result of the process that began in the early 1970s when Canada decided to negotiate settlements with aboriginal groups that filed land claims. The establishment of Nunavut represents a new level of indigenous self-determination in Canada.

In response to the reports of widespread abuse in the residential school system, the Law Commission of Canada in 1996 published a report, "Restoring Dignity: Responding to Child Abuse in Canadian Institutions". In its research, the Commission found that, in addition to physical and sexual abuse, it was imperative to also consider the emotional, racial and cultural abuse. Following the report, the Government of Canada announced a new programme "Gathering Strength - an Aboriginal Action Plan". It called for a renewed partnership with Aboriginal people based on recognizing past mistakes and injustices, the advancement of reconciliation, healing and renewal, and the building of a joint plan for the future. The Government also offered a Statement of Reconciliation, in which it said "To those of you who suffered this tragedy at residential schools, we are deeply sorry."

Unfortunately, it has become apparent that resolving such emotionally charged issues will take a great deal of time and commitment. With over 6,000 lawsuits currently seeking reparations for physical and sexual abuse, the Churches who ran the schools for the Canadian Government and who are co-defendants in the suits report that they are facing almost certain bankruptcy. And a number of the victims of abuse have committed suicide.

Elsewhere in North America, the United States is also in the process of settling many land claims. Some Indian Nations have successfully established a level of sovereignty. A few have established casinos that have become multi-billion dollars industries and that provide needed jobs to depressed areas - and not just to residents of the reservation.

In one particularly difficult case, the Federal Government has filed suit against New York State for illegally acquiring and selling land belonging to the Oneida Nation - land that is now occupied by thousands of upset American homeowners. While the Oneida Nation has insisted throughout that they have no intention of seizing anyone's land or evicting anyone, feelings have run very high. Death threats have been made.

The Cayugas, the Senecas, the Mohawks and the Onondagas - all Haudenosaunee, or members of the Iroquois Confederacy, along with the Oneida Nation - also have claims on property in New York State. Because the population of New York State is much more dense than in most other areas of "Indian country", these may prove difficult to resolve to everyone's mutual satisfaction.

Pine Ridge Reservation, in South Dakota, is the poorest county in the United States of America. The midwestern states are also the site of more obvious racism against Native Americans. It has been commonly charged that there are two tiers of justce, one for Native Americans and another for "whites". Native Americans say that crimes committed against them - including those resulting in death - receive only a cursory investigation, while crimes committed against "whites", allegedly committed by Native Americans, are fiercely prosecuted. And daily expressions of racism of the type long thought to exist only in memory still occur -- but the apparent recipients are Native Americans. The segregated lunch counters of the South may no longer exist, but Native Americans say they are not surprised when they are refused service in a coffee shop. Such experiences of Native Americans living in Indian Country, however, are not known to vast majority of American citizens. Which gives rise to another question: is racism against Native Americans less likely to be covered by the mainstream media?

World Conference against Racism

Copyright United Nations 2001 ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe Phantom of Racism Racism and Indigenous Peoples``x999041936,61391,Articles``x``x ``xAt least by 1,000BC Ethiopia, Eritrea and what is southern Yemen were part of a large empire known as the Sabean Kingdoms. The connections of Ethiopia and Arabia should not be surprising as the distance between the East African horn and Southern Arabia is minimal. In fact recent linguistic study indicates that the Semitic languages of Arabia and the Middle East may well be a branch of a larger Ethiopian language group.

It is also well known that this Eastern Horn-Arabian route was used for millennia by the earliest homonid migrants who later populated Asia. The people of Sabea were probably a mixture of East Africans and their Southern Arabian descendants who had long populated the region. Saba had a very matrifocal society with a host of female dieties. According to the Kebra Negast, a holy book of Ethiopia, it is said that Makedda herself created a dictate stating "only a woman can rule." Polyandry, the practice of taking more than one husband by a woman, and tracing one's kinship based upon matrilineal descent was common.

The earliest known Arabian temple was at Marib (in Southern Yemen), capital of Saba, and was called Mahram Bilqus, "precincts of the Queen of Saba." The Arabs called this woman, Bilqus or Balkis; in Ethiopia, Makedda (also Magda, Maqda and Makera), meaning "Greatness." Years later, the Jewish historian Josephus, referred to her as "Nikaulis, Queen of Ethiopia." She is the celebrated Queen of Sheba of the Bible who is described as "black and comely." Located in a strategic location, Saba flourished as a trading community in goods from Asia as well as Africa. Even coffee drinkers trace the original cup to Ethiopia's Kefa region. Pictured above are the ruins of Marib, built between the 1st and 2nd Millennium BC.

(Information Courtesy of Yemeni website and African Presence in Early Asia ed. by Ivan Van Sertima) MORE``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAncient Abyssinia/Saba ``x999068400,8993,Articles``x``x ``xThe skin is the place where Vitamin D is synthesized using ultraviolet rays to catalyze the reaction. So you need some ultraviolet light to penetrate the skin in order to make Vitamin D. Vitamin D turns out to be critical to your body because it provides the means whereby you absorb calcium from your food in your digestive system. So if you don't have Vitamin D, you can't absorb calcium from your food and you can't build strong bones.

Making the proper skin color turns out to be a balancing act between having enough natural sunscreen to prevent a lot of damage to the contents of the blood system. On the other hand, you have to let in enough ultraviolet light to still permit the formation of Vitamin D in your skin. So people who live in conditions of lower ultraviolet light, away from the tropics and toward the poles, have to have lighter skin than those people who live closer to the tropics or closer to the equator. Those people really have to have darker skin to protect themselves from ultraviolet light.

Those who are sort of in the middle, like inhabitants of most of North America and most of Eurasia, have to have skin that is capable of some level of tanning so that we can protect ourselves from lots of ultraviolet radiation in the late spring and summer. But we can de-pigment ourselves as ultraviolet light becomes less intense in the winter so we can take advantage of the ambient ultraviolet radiation that does exist.

If we look at our earliest Homo sapiens ancestors (about 100 to 150 thousand years ago in eastern Africa), we can reconstruct that those ancestors would have had dark skin to protect themselves from the deleterious effects of ultraviolet light. But those populations began to move out of the tropics and colonize areas that were much less intense in terms of ultraviolet light. As they first moved into the Circum Mediterranean, Western Asia, then onward into Eastern Asia, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and so forth, these populations would have to undergo some depigmentation in order for them to be able to synthesize enough Vitamin D in their skin. More

Skin Comes in Colors

Human Skin Pigmentation

Testosterone and Evolution of Skin Color in Humans ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xWhy Skin Comes in Colors``x999105886,73305,Members``x``x ``xBy Lord Anthony Gifford, British Queens Counsel
and Jamaican Attorney-at-Law

I believe that the cause of Reparations to Africa and Africans in the Diaspora is rooted in fundamental justice - a justice which over-arches every struggle and campaign which African people have waged to assert their human dignity. For the iniquities perpetrated against African people today - whether in South Africa by the apartheid regime, in Mozambique and Angola by terrorist forms of de stabilisation, in Britain and the USA by racist attacks and by systems of discrimination - are the continuing consequences, the damages as lawyers would say, flowing from the 400-years-long atrocity of the slave system.

For me as a lawyer it is essential to locate the claim for Reparations within a framework of law and justice. If this were merely an appeal to the conscience of the White world, it would be misconceived. For while there have been many committed individuals and movements of solidarity in the White world, its political an economic power centres have evidenced a ruthless lack of conscience when it comes to Black and African peoples.

But in my experience progress has been made when the powers that rule in the white world have been compelled to recognise that the rights of non-white peoples are founded in justice. It is then that forms of legal redress, which may not have existed before, have been devised.

For example, it used to be perfectly legal in Britain, only 25 years ago, for landlords or employers to put up notices which said "VACANCIES - NO COLOUREDS". Today any employer who discriminates on racial grounds can be required by a Tribunal to pay compensation.

At an intentional level, apartheid in South Africa used to be regarded as an internal affair, however regrettable. But over the years apartheid became recognised as a crime against humanity and a threat to peace, so that international sanctions could be imposed.

This is not to say that the achievement of legal sanctions brings automatic justice. This has not happened either in Britain or South Africa. But these examples show that the demand for justice and legality is an essential element in the struggle for a just cause.

So it is with the claim for Reparations. Indeed, once you accept, as I do, the truth of three propositions. More http://www.arm.arc.co.uk/legalBasis.html``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe legal basis of the claim for Reparations ``x999206405,75811,Articles``x``x ``xExcellencies:
Delegates and guests:

Racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia are not naturally instinctive reactions of the human beings but rather a social, cultural and political phenomenon born directly of wars, military conquests, slavery and the individual or collective exploitation of the weakest by the most powerful all along the history of human societies.

No one has the right to boycott this Conference which tries to bring some sort of relief to the overwhelming majority of mankind afflicted by unbearable suffering and enormous injustice. Neither has anyone the right to set preconditions to this conference or urge it to avoid the discussion of historical responsibility, fair compensation or the way we decide to rate the dreadful genocide perpetrated, at this very moment, against our Palestinian brothers by extreme right leaders who, in alliance with the hegemonic superpower, pretend to be acting on behalf of another people which throughout almost two thousand years was the victim of the most fierce persecution, discrimination and injustice that history has known.

Cuba speaks of reparations, and supports this idea as an unavoidable moral duty to the victims of racism, based on a major precedent, that is, the indemnification being paid to the descendants of the Hebrew people which in the very heart of Europe suffered the brutal and loathsome racist holocaust. However, it is not with the intent to undertake an impossible search for the direct descendants or the specific countries of the victims of actions occurred throughout centuries. The irrefutable truth is that tens of millions of Africans were captured, sold like a commodity and sent beyond the Atlantic to work in slavery while 70 million indigenous people in that hemisphere perished as a result of the European conquest and colonization.

The inhuman exploitation imposed on the peoples of three continents, including Asia, marked forever the destiny and lives of over 4.5 billion people living in the Third World today whose poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and health rates as well as their infant mortality, life expectancy and other calamities --too many, in fact, to enumerate here-- are certainly awesome and harrowing. They are the current victims of that atrocity which lasted centuries and the ones who clearly deserve compensation for the horrendous crimes perpetrated against their ancestors and peoples.

Actually, such a brutal exploitation did not end when many countries became independent, not even after the formal abolition of slavery. Right after independence, the main ideologists of the American Union that emerged when the 13 colonies got rid of the British domination at the end of the 18th century, advanced ideas and strategies unquestionably expansionist in nature.

It was based on such ideas that the ancient white settlers of European descent, in their march to the West, forcibly occupied the lands in which Native- Americans had lived for thousands of years thus exterminating millions of them in the process. But, they did not stop at the boundaries of the former Spanish possessions; consequently Mexico, a Latin American country that had attained its independence in 1821, was stripped off millions of square kilometers of territory and invaluable natural resources.

Meanwhile, in the increasingly powerful and expansionist nation born in North America, the obnoxious and inhumane slavery system stayed in place for almost a century after the famous Declaration of Independence of 1776 was issued, the same that proclaimed that all men were born free and equal.

After the purely formal slave emancipation, African- Americans were subjected during one hundred more years to the harshest racial discrimination, and many of its features and consequences still persist after almost four more decades of heroic struggles and the achievements of the 1960's, for which Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and other outstanding fighters gave their lives. Based on a purely racist rationale, the longest and most severe legal sentences are passed against African-Americans who in the wealthy American society are bound to live in dare poverty and with the lowest living standards.

Likewise, what is left of the Native-American peoples, which were the first to inhabit a large portion of the current territory of the United States of America, remain under even worse conditions of discrimination and neglect.

Needless to mention the data on the social and economic situation of Africa where entire countries and even whole regions of Sub-Saharan Africa are in risk of extinction the result of an extremely complex combination of economic backwardness, excruciating poverty and grave diseases, both old and new, that have become a true scourge. And the situation is no less dramatic in numerous Asian countries. On top of all this, there are the huge and unpayable debts, the disparate terms of trade, the ruinous prices of basic commodities, the demographic explosion, the neoliberal globalization and the climate changes that produce long draughts alternating with increasingly intensive rains and floods. It can be mathematically proven that such a predicament is unsustainable.

The developed countries and their consumer societies, presently responsible for the accelerated and almost unstoppable destruction of the environment, have been the main beneficiaries of the conquest and colonization, of slavery, of the ruthless exploitation and the extermination of hundreds of millions of people born in the countries that today constitute the Third World. They have also reaped the benefits of the economic order imposed on humanity after two atrocious and devastating wars for a new division of the world and its markets, of the privileges granted to the United States and its allies in Bretton-Woods, and of the IMF and the international financial institutions exclusively created by them and for them.

That rich and squandering world is in possession of the technical and financial resources necessary to pay what is due to mankind. The hegemonic superpower should also pay back its special debt to African- Americans, to Native-Americans living in reservations, and to the tens of millions of Latin American and Caribbean immigrants as well as others from poor nations, be they mulatto, yellow or black, but victims all of vicious discrimination and scorn.

It is high time to put an end to the dramatic situation of the indigenous communities in our hemisphere. Their own awakening and struggles, and the universal admission of the monstrosity of the crime committed against them make it imperative.

There are enough funds to save the world from the tragedy.

May the arms race and the weapon commerce that only bring devastation and death truly end.

Let it be used for development a good part of the one trillion US dollars annually spent on the commercial advertising that creates false illusions and inaccessible consumer habits while releasing the venom that destroys the national cultures and identities.

May the modest 0.7 percentage point of the Gross National Product promised as official development assistance be finally delivered.

May the tax suggested by Nobel Prize Laureate James Tobin be imposed in a reasonable and effective way on the current speculative operations accounting for trillions of US dollars every 24 hours, then the United Nations, which cannot go on depending on meager, inadequate, and belated donations and charities, will have one trillion US dollars annually to save and develop the world. Given the seriousness and urgency of the existing problems, which have become a real hazard for the very survival of our specie on the planet, that is what would actually be needed before it is too late.

Put and end to the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people that is taking place while the world stares in amazement. May the basic right to life of that people, children and youth, be protected. May their right to peace and independence be respected; then, there will be nothing to fear from UN documents.

I am aware that the need for some relief from the awful situation their countries are facing has led many friends from Africa and other regions to suggest the need for such prudence as would allow something to come out of this conference. I sympathize with them but I cannot renounce my convictions, as I feel that the more candid we are in telling the truth the more possibilities there will be to be heeded and respected. There have been enough centuries of deception.

I have only three other short questions based on realities that cannot be ignored.

The capitalist, developed and wealthy countries today participate of the imperialist system born of capitalism itself and the economic order imposed to the world based on the philosophy of selfishness and the brutal competition between men, nations and groups of nations which in completely indifferent to any feelings of solidarity and honest international cooperation. They live under the misleading, irresponsible and hallucinating atmosphere of consumer societies. Thus, regardless the sincerity of their blind faith in such a system and the convictions of their most serious statesmen, I wonder: Will they be able to understand the grave problems of today's world which in its incoherent and uneven development is ruled by blind laws, by the huge power and the interests of the ever growing and increasingly uncontrollable and independent transnational corporations?

Will they come to understand the impending universal chaos and rebellion? And, even if they wanted to, could they put an end to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related issues, which are precisely the rest of them all?

From my viewpoint we are on the verge of a huge economic, social and political global crisis. Let's try to build an awareness about these realities and the alternatives will come up. History has shown that it is only from deep crisis that great solutions have emerged. The peoples' right to life and justice will definitely impose itself under a thousand different shapes.

I believe in the mobilization and the struggle of the peoples! I believe in the idea of justice! I believe in truth! I believe in man!

Thank you.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xFidel Castro Address Durbin Conference on Racism``x999354203,4849,Development``x``x ``x( ABSTRACT BBC: ) African leaders at the international conference on racism in the South African city of Durban have agreed that the West must apologise for slavery and colonialism, but are still divided over the issue of reparations.

One of the speakers at the conference, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, has come out against reparations.

Mr Obasanjo told the delegates an apology would recognise the wrong that was committed against Africans and constitute a promise that such an atrocity would never happen again.

With an apology, "the issue of reparations ceases to be a rational option", he said during his formal address to the conference on Saturday morning.

But the President of Togo, Gnassingbe Eyadema, said reparations were necessary to compensate for the horrors of the slave trade and colonialism.

Africans and people of African descent have noted that compensation is now being paid to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their descendents.

They are demanding the same kind of reparations for the descendents of those who were enslaved because they were black.

Reparations could come in the form of a cancellation of African debt and greater development aid, some African delegates hope.

Cuban President Fidel Castro has supported the call for reparations, saying that countries that made money through human trafficking could afford to pay.

"This is an unavoidable moral duty," Mr Castro said.

The Cuban leader criticised the US for lowering the level of its delegation at the conference because of the discussion of what he called Israeli genocide against Palestinians.

"(Nobody) has the right to set preconditions to the conference or urge it to avoid the discussion...(of) the way we decide to rate the dreadful genocide perpetrated, at this very moment, against our Palestinian brothers," Mr Castro said. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xFidel Castro has supported the call for reparations``x999389257,73180,Members``x``x ``x( Jahmeek ) I have seen cotton but I have never seen a white man. I have seen crisp ash but I have never seen seen a black man. I have seen blood but I have never seen a red man. I have seen dandelion but have never seen a yellow man. As a child I was never taught about differance in people by skin so how could I beleive iNi are anything but one of a creation of JAH 1 LUV
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( RootsWomb(man) ) InI have seen the Black Man's (Afrikan) Holocaust at the hands of white (european) men. Black Man was tortured for 500 years plus so the white man's cotton could make him richer. InI have seen the Black Woman raped for hundreds of years for the pleasure of white men. InI see a global white supremist system still oppressing ALL PEOPLE OF COLOR. InI sight that the white man's religions and texts still pass as the "infallible world of god." InI sight that the white man is still MISEDUCATING the world.

Yes we are all ONE inna Creation...

But WHICH MAN has caused more destruction everywhere he has stepped foot? WHich man has NOT been his brother's keeper? Which man has caused more destruction unto Creation than any other?

IT is one thing to have a Utopian vision, which we all look forward to...It is another to face REALITY.

Teach the youths the TRUTH. Teach the youths that a man without the knowledge of his past is as a tree without roots. Teach the youths about Marcus! Teach the youths about the HALF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD! Teach the youths OUR-STORY! TEach the youths that "One Love" sounds pretty in songs, but a REVOLUTION of the Mind and Spirit must manifest, least "world peace" is but an illusion to be persued but never attained. Teach the youths GET UP, STAND UP FOR THEIR RIGHTS! Teach the youths to HONOR THEIR ANCESTORS and to RE-BUILD a New and United Afrika!

ROOTS
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( Jeff ) I have tried to hold my tongue while I read messages like this on these Rasta boards. I have was even convinced that this philosophy might be True and Right. Well, I know that the history you and certain others speak of is True, of course! Why sweep history under a carpet?

Come out with it and accept it and move on.....try and work together to create solutions, for ALL race issues wreaking havoc on this earth. Even in Japan there is race issues within those of the same Asian Blood! Half caste and things.....Tibet and China, Irish Protestants and Catholics, Hindu caste shituation, not to mention race issue within the Latin community, or shall we forget the Greek Spartans enslaving the whole Greek Healots three thousand years ago....and race issues within the African Community!

Race/speration issues between Black and White, Asian and White, Latinos, Indian...etc etc....etc etc.......on and on.....and on and on.....and then on and on again and again.....Sister, the devil within rules Man's hearts again and again.

Time to stop all the foolishness, back-biting, blaming, GENRALIZING GROUPS OF PEOPLE....and start to work together before we decide our fate on this beautiful Creation JAH has given us. I am but a poor, struggling "White" guy with a family, but I still want to do my part in Forwarding the Human Race. This ain't no "hippy" one love-thing, this is REALITY for All of us! We need to put aside blame and generalizing and work together for the sake of our childrens' children.

JAH Bless Us All,
Jeff
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( qe ) Blessed love, Ras Jeff, that was beautifully written in the spirit of HIM words that were left to guide us. though we surely can change no one's behavior but our own, give thanks for this timely and spiritual reminder of i'n'i goals--as set forth by Selassie-I, the Elect of God. BIG UP and raspect in every aspect--out of many i'n'i have CHOSEN to be ONE--one love, one people, one destiny, RASTAFARI!
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( Ras Trevor Henry ) It is amazing how every time I an I try to move forward there are those who would see the need to distract and engage in debates that serves suspect purposes. There are many issues of Rastafari to be dealt with and there are those whose focus is on anything but I an I.

Please Brethren and Sistren do not get caught in those sterile debates. The nswers still would not satisfy some people, plus there is always Rastafari work to be doing. Several Boards have been destroyed by a certain attitude, but none has been built by it. Rastafari love
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( Akinkawon ) >>>> Come out with it and accept it and move on.....try and work together to create solutions, for ALL race issues wreaking havoc on this earth. <<<<

That "come out with it and accept it and move on" comes over quite condescending and disrespectful. You can easily shave your head and fit into the echelons of the European Capitalistic System. You would have less of a problem getting a job and your wages may be far higher that that of an African with similar abilities. Whether you admit it or not although you are a White Rasta, you are still part of the European privileged class and at this time you are enjoying the best of two worlds; the soul of struggling people together with accessibility to a more materially 'privileged group'.

Why should any reasonable person choose to accept a wrong that persists today?

EXAMPLE:

Here it is qe rushes in again to agree with a platitude in another vain attempt to silence the voices of history. She has no problem with you posting without an email address. (This is not of concern to me but you are quite fortunate you were not someone else.)

What do you think we are dealing with if not the same slave mentality of worshiping Whites as superior coupled with another form of negative discrimination where wrongs are tolerated from one's peer group but for everyone else its a crime. Why do you feel so many christianized Rastafarians have a problem addressing Women's issues? We are dealing with the poor representation of women and Africans in their bibles and their ignorance of world history. Although many readily admit that these stories took place in Africa, it is done in a token manner and with contempt for our ancestors. Just examine what occurs whenever someone presents African History on this Board.

If people cannot find errors in Roots Woman's post, then what is there to oppose. Why is it necessary to mention all the other European crimes against other Europeans to show that everyone suffered? Whenever people talk about racial and gender discrimination that persists today Europeans try to control and dictate how the discussions must go.

It is not as if Europeans improved on what was in Africa when they went there but they destroyed what they placed their hands on. Even when they give 'aid/s' today it reaffirms in the minds of those ignorant of history that more White saviors have come (White idolatry is sustained).

Many on this Board use Christianity, with all its misrepresentations and contradictions coupled with their own misunderstandings to evaluate life.
How could reminding others of the atrocities committed against our ancestors be considered divisive or wrong if these events are true? We are still living through the oppressions of the past. Why is it necessary for Africans to develop amnesia in order to get along with others but everyone else is entitled to bombard us with their version of their sufferings? I do not hear many people calling the Jews divisive for showing numerous documentaries about their holocaust.

All the atrocities Jeff mentioned are about what Whites did to other Whites or non-whites and Europeans have little problems with compensating each other, but the issue of Slavery and cultural genocide should be placed on the back burner.

It was through slavery people were forced to adopt Christianity with its corruption of African philosophies. Today many Africans cannot even call a spade a spade. Look at the corruption before your eyes.

African Historians and sages have always spoken of the 'equality' of humans and Christianized Rastafarians and other Christianized Africans discard these brilliant minds in favor of a White Male Idol. Publicly they will disagree, but when you look at the amount of Africans who damage their skin using bleaching agents we know there is a serious problem.

With the exception of a few Rastafarians like IanI who post on this forum, most modern Rastafarians entered the movement because of both mental and material poverty. They just wanted to be accepted in a peer group notwithstanding their financial disposition. This is the reason many who call themselves Rastafarians today are no different to any other group of people who are ignorant of History and authentic cultural values. They were poor "Christians" and became poor Rastafarians with the same misunderstood Christian values.

People should not get me wrong as all of this is quite understandable but Rastafarian as a movement is still in search of core values to distinguish its body from the sea of ignorance.

This is the ongoing legacy of discrimination, which other Africans on this Board mentioned, that is part of the struggles of more enlightened African people today. Even on this Board Males and Females have problems conversing with reasoning Women.

For me, it is not a struggle about fighting for a bunch of ignorant people who don't care, or are unaware, but it is about the welfare of children under my tutorship.

In my country we have to privately raise funds (mostly from our own pockets) to put a better African story in schools. We have to use our personal funds to teach a better story about most other people. Christianized people including Africans do not support such efforts. They teach the children to live in hope of a salvation that never comes and is not of their understanding. All major ‘religious organizations’ are largely responsible for the poor mental health and the dependency syndrome that exists today.

Who are some persons on these public forums trying to put down? Is it the more enlightened person who can communicate a better story? Is it the person more knowledgeable of our past who can best ensure we do not repeat errors? Or are people advocating more hypocrisy, amnesia, and dependency so that a few could feel comfortable in the short term at the expense of our children’s well being.

I could only speak for myself as a teacher who encourages students to follow these discussions to get a better understanding of the problems.

My position is quite simple; any group that does not have at the head of its agenda, the issues of race and gender misrepresentations together with the reappraisal of World history/culture to encourage a better human story, is fraudulent and irrelevant in today’s context.
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( qe ) THE SAD GAME
Blame
Keeps the sad game going.
It keeps stealing all your wealth -
Giving it to an imbecile with
No financial skills.
Dear one,
Wise
Up.

("The Gift" - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
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( TsunamiJobu ) I am new to this message board. Quite a few of the messages portray a people dwelling on the past and the anger associated with it. Justly so, I might add but, it is much better to learn from the past than to dwell on it.

I am a white man living in Compton, California, a ghetto of sorts, where I deal with people of all colors, races (if you believe they exist), ethic, and cultural backgrounds. I deal with discrimination on a daily basis, being THE minority in that city. I could take the discrimination to heart or just realize some people are ignorant. I choose the latter. The racial relations amongst the youngest generations are the best. We need to focus on these new generations to make it a better tomorrow.
I'm not saying ignore the past, we should teach the past and mourn its victims together as a society of equal, loving people. I feel the pain of the mistreated from the past and the present. Reparations have been made, my ancestors killed fighting for civil rights. I have decided to learn from the pasts mistakes and my own misfortune. I live my life to help better racial relations. We are all of the same person. It is time to teach that to our children in order to make their lives and the lives of their children better.

22 year old student
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( Akinkawon ) >>>> Quite a few of the messages portray a people dwelling on the past and the anger associated with it. Justly so, I might add but, it is much better to learn from the past than to dwell on it. <<<<<

What you might call dwelling on the past could be people simply using the past to inform their present. Many do have a right to be angry and should remain angry until they realize justice. People who are profiting from past sins are tied to past and present oppressions.

An illusion of a future in amnesia of past oppressors and victims is a fertile ground for repeating oppressions. To me, people who live in ignorance of our greatest past are stuck in the abusive aspect of our past.

I can speak for a few of us, and we dwell so far back in the past that we are the future.

If the future is about a more enlightened, self-reliant, hard working, creative people who can comfortably take care of their needs without stepping on the rights of others? Then some of us live in that state presently, which is deeply, deeply rooted in the past. Not just the past of human degradation, but all of the past including our Universal origins.

In other words, some of us went back to the future. If you think of it you would realize it is the only way.
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( TsunamiJobu ) True, yet while dwelling on the past some people do not realize the future. Some atrocities can never be repaid. Understand?
And even if I could repay those atrocities, why should I be held responsible for something people did a long time ago that just happened to have the same skin color as me? The enemies are in the past. You will never be able to fight them there. Understand? I realize that the majority of people in my surrounding area suffer from some sort of prejudice. I am here to tell you that I do not. It is possible to have a white person not act with prejudice. With that knowledge I know that it is possible to have a large society, like the U.S., not suffer from prejudices. All we need is time and effort. This is a circular argument so I will not go on much further.

One question for you: "What you might call dwelling on the past could be people simply using the past to inform their present. Many do have a right to be angry and should remain angry until they realize justice. People who are profiting from past sins are tied to past and present oppressions."

What is this "justice" people need to realize? Is it feasible? Is it productive to society? Will this "justice" make the world a better place? Will it be a race war? Or maybe we lock up all us white folk for being white? That will show us right? What is going to have to happen? I don't think there are any decent answers to these questions. Me and you are fighting the same fight. The enemy is the ignorance of the past. We need to teach it in order for people to learn from it. We shouldn't use it to fuel peoples anger.

Living in the past is a great idea. And quite feasible as well. How far do we want to go? Human origin? Just tell me where the undisputed place and time it was where life began.
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( Akinkawon ) >>> True, yet while dwelling on the past some people do not realize the future. Some atrocities can never be repaid. Understand? <<<

This is funny, are you also the one to determine when people should evolve?

Yes, the atrocities committed against many people can never be repaid in a material sense, but at least Europeans and some so called Africans can make a good effort. A few trillion dollars to invest in education is a good place to start. The education is not only for Africans but for Europeans and everyone else also . Those with the slave mentality are equally as sick as those with the slave master's mentality.

>>> And even if I could repay those atrocities, why should I be held responsible for something people did a long time ago that just happened to have the same skin color as me? <<<

You are not being personally held responsible for everything. Most people including many Africans are also responsible. But there is the question of the personal responsibilities of individuals. You need to learn European History if you are really White, because you did not just happen to be White. White was the necessary depigmentation of some people for their survival and this should be understood and respected.

When some of us speak of White, we are mostly speaking about an attitude and not necessarily White/European people.

You are held responsible because you benefited from the sins. If you are advancing the argument that because you did not personally commit the crime you cannot be held liable, then the other side of that argument should be upheld as a principle. You did not work for the money so you are not entitled to any inheritance. I do not hear Whites questioning this principle whenever they are on the receiving end.

People live in societies that deny meritocracy and most Whites happily enjoy the comforts. These comforts are part of your inheritance; these are the sins of parents being passed onto children.

Why is it right for Israel, Britain, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium etc to build memorials for their dead and preserve the legacy of their brutalities and it is wrong for Africans to revisit the past?

Today many Whites are revisiting the African past to learn more about where they came from but when Africans do the same many Whites and colonized Africans say we are dwelling on the past.

Some Whites in an attempt to deal with the legacy of European miseducation unintentionally commit more wrongs. They now often repeat the diatribe that race is insignificant, but they are the ones getting the large grants to do the explorations. They are still benefiting from their skin color but try to feed the lie that race is insignificant.

The differences in people are not only about melanin to protect from ultraviolet rays, but these differences speak about people’s evolution and how they developed their worldview. Today differences in many people explain greater sins and amnesia. People are doing dangerous things to get straight hair and lighten their complexion. This is about economics, which is tied to the White skin color, so for many of those bleaching their skins it is about survival for which they are prepared to risk their lives.

They know the truth about economic resources being tied to skin color and they are not easily going to move from that position unless more people can present a better model of development that respects all manner of people.

>>> The enemies are in the past. You will never be able to fight them there. Understand? I realize that the majority of people in my surrounding area suffer from some sort of prejudice. I am here to tell you that I do not. It is possible to have a white person not act with prejudice. <<<

Ignorance and Greed, the two major enemies are not in our past but are very present today. And people negatively discriminate against others today. Sir, apparently you do not know the meaning of prejudice and when you are clear on the meaning you should revisit these discussions. You may be surprised to discover you are prejudice and possibly a racist. But that does not necessarily make you an evil person. You could be unaware of the numerous things you say and do that negatively impact on others. You could be making these comments to simply provoke discussions.

It is impossible for America to rid itself of racial and gender discriminations. The entire American economy is built on these poor qualities and if America were ever to genuinely pay for crimes committed against other people then America would have no money. You sir would be migrating to Africa to seek employment.

Yes it is possible to have a White person act without prejudice but I have not met one as yet. It is even difficult to find people who are not prejudice among all other people. But yes, it is possible but that comes through constant work on oneself.

>>> What is this "justice" people need to realize? Is it feasible? Is it productive to society? Will this "justice" make the world a better place? Will it be a race war? <<<

Justice is achieved by individuals who are self realized. But this justice does not come through amnesia but through seeking out more improved ways to address problems and live in harmony with nature.

Some people may resort to fighting with Whites, and that is understandable, however they would not get my support as I know the problem is not simply about Whites versus Blacks, but good over bad and right over wrong and in this respect many Africans are also on the side of wrong.

Your last point is a muddle of your own senses. However, we all have our past with us presently. Most people are simply ignorant of the true meaning of "You must know where you came from to know where you are going."

I will end by saying that in essence where you came from is exactly where you are striving to go to achieve happiness.
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( RootsWomb(man) ) Greetings Akinkawon,

Give thanks for the I's CRUCIAL WORD SOUND AND POWER!!!! Teach dem....teach dem!!!!!!

Also, it is CLASSICALLY EUROCENTRIC to seperate the Past from the Present and Future. The Afrikan Mind KNOWS that PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE ARE ONE! That is why First World Peoples HONOR their Ancestors. It is also why Marcus taught us that A MAN WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS PAST IS AS A TREE WITHOUT ROOTS. We are the PRESENT which CONNECTS the past with the future. It is a CYCLICAL movement. Not a LINEAR one. The linear mentallity is european by nature.

ONWARD AND FORWARD TO ANCIENT FUTURE! SANKOFA!

ROOTS
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( TsunamiJobu ) I never realized, until now, that I was born with sins that can never be repaid. And I am obligated for life to repay these sins to others simply based on the color of my skin. My children (as long as their white?) will inherit these sins and pass them to their children and so on and so on.

Thank you for opening my eyes to the eternal damnation of my race. Human? Is there a human race?

Afraid not, just a bunch of different colored people, without the ability to forgive, running around mad at each other, for the un-repayable, sinful actions they committed on each other.

It is nice to live in your world, where the word forgive does not exist.

I am no longer worried about teaching my children well. Why would I, a white man, even want to have a child?
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( Akinkawon ) That is a mind-boggling evaluation of my prior contribution and if you cannot understand what you read that is further proof that the Eurocentric miseducation system does not even benefit White people in a meaningful way. This is the reason the holistic education about which we speak is for all people including Whites.

I hope you realize that I am responding to any person who may share your views and not only you because I do not know if you are White. You could be anyone trying to push a discussion.

Whites have no problem teaching innocent children that they were born in sin, so how come this concept coming from an African is so offensive to you? You and every other ignorant adult is a sinner by default of not knowing right actions to correct injustices.

You may be expecting Africans to only seek salvation in the spirit, (that is what the colonial interpretation of religion taught us) while Whites are continually trying to have it here and now in CA$H.

Our holistic approach to life teaches us to seek salvation on earth as it is in heaven. So we will no longer be blinded by the illusion of religion but instead be guided by the reality of true spirituality, which is about the restoration of justice here on earth for a fruitful life here and after.

Should you have children? Hmm... If you are not going to properly educate them so they develop to work for equal opportunity for all, they may become victims of others who may not be as non-violent and tolerant as myself. They may suffer for the sins of your ignorance and for the bigger sin you are committing today by trying to spread amnesia for education.

When I was a child and vulnerable, my ignorant teacher took me to church to confess, I was told to also give collection $. That is the teachings of 'colonial religion'. Europeans do not ask for forgiveness but expect others to forgive them. And even if they ask, it is up to whom ever they ask to grant or not grant forgiveness. All who are found guilty must also pay CA$H. (Restitution)

When European and American powers are truly sorry, they would not try to tell a free people what is adequate compensation. People do not commit crimes and dictate their own punishment.

You are not guilty because of your skin color, but for your attitude in relation to the 'benefits' you take for granted that comes with being White.

I have several White friends who understand the truth of our history and they work for the same restoration of justice like myself. In many ways they are still prejudice but at least they admit it and work on it daily. They don't go around trying to impose amnesia to replace education.

Now, I have communicated to you in the language that Europeans felt only they could master and interpret and I see you are having problems with the same English Language.

I could transmit this to you in many other ways but I feel you will not understand and may go mad from confusion.
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( RootsWomb(man) ) Greetins!!!!

"Whites have no problem teaching innocent children that they were born in sin, so how come this concept coming from an African is so offensive to you? You and every other ignorant adult is a sinner by default of not knowing right actions to correct injustices."

INDEED!!!! Their whole religious foundations are built upon the "born in sin" CON-cept! Yet, when it comes from the Mind of an Afrikan...they rebuke it! BABBLE-ON....(babylon)...what a load of CON-fusion!

I just wanted to extend DEEP RAspect unto the I for the I's WISE Words. Teach dem!

ROOTS ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xTeach your children well``x999734780,22683,Rasta``x``x ``xFOR Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, it started with 40 acres and a mule. Like most American blacks of her generation, she knew all about the offer of land and livestock that the US government promised in the 1860s to every freed slave. She also knew how swiftly that promise was broken.

One day, researching genealogy in a New York archive, Farmer-Paellmann, 35, stumbled on a document that is helping to transform one of America's most divisive racial debates. She found a book that told plantation owners where to insure their slaves.

For the first time African-Americans, who have been demanding reparations for more than 250 years of slavery, had an identifiable corporate target. The policy was issued by a company that became part of America's Aetna insurance conglomerate. A crucial link had been made between past sins and present corporate assets.

After years of moribund protest, Farmer-Paellmann's discovery has helped rejuvenate a movement demanding modern retribution. "It's hot and it's going to get hotter," she said.

Next week a group of black intellectuals, lawyers and activists known as N'Cobra (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America) will hold a conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when plans will be made to launch a barrage of lawsuits against state institutions and corporations with connections to slavery.

Prominent black lawyers, including Johnnie Cochran, the successful defender of OJ Simpson, plan to sue the federal government to establish rights to compensation. Other lawsuits will target corporations "in the same way that Jews sued IBM for their involvement in the Holocaust", one legal source said. MORE``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xBig business is sent bill for slave trade``x1000012270,72643,Members``x``x ``x( Jenny ) Who in the history of this world have perpetrated more cowardly acts than the US?
I see nothing cowardly about what those people did with the planes. Americans staying thousands of miles away and raining bombs on other countries is COWARDLY!

As the Trinicenter headline says, "The US suffers surgical strikes with heavy collateral damage"This is the language they use while killing others. The American public has not stopped their government from being the World's bully!!

While I do not support violence, in no way am I in sympathy with America or victims of this act. I am certain I have acquaintances who lost their lives in that attack but I would have felt the same if it was a member of my family or myself who suffered there.

I have been expecting more than this to hit America and have been warning family and friends that it will come. While some of us stay home and fight to develop our country, others prefer to run to 'greener pastures'. They don't care about all that America does to smaller countries. Even many African Americans have adopted the habit of using their American nationality as a badge of superiority. It is time for them to feel the vulnerability many of us feel and to know they will not be safe as long as they make us smaller countries feel unsafe. All it takes is a few people willing to die to inflict casualties like American military power does all over the world.

Many Americans felt insolated from American aggression and while as I said I do not support violence, I cannot help but feel a sense of joy that this insulation is shattered.

They could take their revenge now but once they remain dictating to other countries causing mayhem all over the world, there would always be a few willing to die to exact revenge.

It takes that type of ignorance to combat American arrogance. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe American DREAM zzzz ``x1000252800,17340,Members``x``x ``x( Woizero Sera'el Tafari ) Yesterday morning, I, like most of the world, sat and watched in awe, as the 'Great' America came under seige.

Again, I watched and listened to the responses of righteous indignation from the various leaders, governmental officials and the ordinary man on the streets of America, condeming this "cowardly act of terrorism on the strongest democratic nation in the world." That this 'evil and merciless' act, was the worst tragedy in the history of the world. BULLSHIT!!!

In watching this scenario unfold in America, the images conjuring in my mind, was that of my African homeland being invaded by a blood-thirsty, EVIL nation, hounding and capturing innocent BLACK people; uprooting them from their homes, their family and loved ones, their stability and sense of security, their FREEDOM.

I watched countless of ones jumping from the fifty-something and upper floors of the World Trade Center, trying to escape from the fury surrounding them; but instead jumping straight to their deaths. In my minds' eye, I saw countless of BLACK people jumping into the Great Ocean, to their deaths, from slave ships herding them off to a life of UNTOLD, UNFELT anguish, despair and sufferation.

I MAKE NO APOLOGIES, but the compassion and mercy that I could have afforded the Great America, is STILL not even enough, for my own people, and other deserving nations, MUCHLESS America.

Life follows the cycle of KARMA: Cause and Effect.

In the REVOLUTIONARY spirit of EQUAL RIGHTS AND JUSTICE,

Woizero Sera'el Tafari ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAmerica Under Attack``x1000252800,41796,Members``x``x ``x( Akinkawon ) For all who were not aware that America is more vulnerable than any other country in the world, the pictures tell a new story.

It is one thing to sympathize with the sufferings of some Americans but it is another thing to forget that America joined other nations in refusing to offer an unqualified apology for slavery. The American elites refuse to discuss reparations and they dictated the terms of the Racism conference.

It is not simply a case of being sorry for Blacks and others who were victims of the carnage but it is important to remember that in all struggles, even in the struggle for enlightenment, many people including Africans remain indifferent. Indifference is an enemy of us all.

While some of us speak in urgency about raising awareness and utilizing history to understand how the forces of nature work, others condemn such efforts and want us to focus on the illusion of now without deep reflection and attempts to correct past injustices.

Well as we see, while some of us are patient and tolerant, others act as the counter balance to that patience. Justice does not wait on mortals. It operates in the balance in nature between the enlightened and unenlightened, giving room for the enlightened to regroup and prepare for the new era while sending the unenlightened into heightened states of fear.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for those who felt we could get along without examining the past. The sins are here with us to be addressed.

Are those who did the damage innocent? No they are not. Is America innocent? No. Who but the dead should bury the dead?

I empathize with those who did not have access to a proper version of the history of the sufferings America caused many nations. I empathize with those who were not aware that there is a better version of World History, with which to evaluate their lives and make better alliances. But for those with the 'America first' Identity, they are the enemies of enlightenment as their arrogance of holding on to the illusion of an American (military brutal, and greedy) identity blinds them from their true identity. An American or an other identity that is not of our deep common bonds are all illusions and would leave people with false loyalties and totally unprepared to interpret the tides as they swell.

The Arabs are no better as they direct the world's attention to conflicts in Israel and Palestine; they are blinding many to Slavery in many Islamic nations like Sudan and Mauritania.

Now that Americans realize they are vulnerable like all other nations it is a good time for people to re-evaluate their identities and try to understand that our Identities must be shaped from and by our deepest common bonds.
``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe US Failed to prepare``x1000394270,34949,Members``x``x ``x( Sherri Muzher ) The rambunctious U.N. Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racial Intolerance has ended, and language has finally been adopted to summarize the major points. "We recognize the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent state and we recognize the right to security for all states in the region, including Israel," the text says.

The statement also recognizes the right of return for refugees. "We recognize the right of the refugees to return voluntarily to their homes and properties in dignity and safety, and urge all states to facilitate such return," the text continues.

The conference, the largest ever held on racism, unfolded like a soap opera. The issue of Zionism seemed to be the primary focus of the media, though many other issues were addressed.

Sadly, the United States walked out of the conference because of the Zionism issue. This upset many African-Americans, who wanted to see our nation finally address the issue of slavery and reparations. The U.S. role was never to be seen.

The European Union had also threatened to walk if specific references were made to Israel and racism. Ultimately, the Europeans agreed to stay after they viewed and agreed to a South-African-brokered compromise.

It was all truly mind-boggling. How could anyone claim that Israel is not a racist state? It is even called the Jewish state of Israel. It is a state for one religion and the founders of Zionism simply intended for such a homogenous state. Racism is defined as:

1) The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

2) Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

More water is given to Jewish citizens than to Palestinians; jobs are more plentiful for Jewish citizens than Israeli Palestinians; Jewish citizens are not subjected to torture while in prison; only Israeli citizens and illegal Jewish settlers drive with yellow license plates, which allow them freedom to travel throughout the Holy Land; non-Jewish Israelis cannot buy or lease land in Israel; Israel's policies have involved planning regulations prohibiting Palestinian building on 40 percent of Gaza, 70 percent of the West Bank and 80 percent of East Jerusalem. While restricting Palestinian development, Israel builds housing for its people in the occupied territories.

According to an Amnesty International report, released shortly before the conference: "prejudice against Palestinian citizens of Israel is widespread in the criminal justice system, both in the courts and law enforcement methods." How can we forget the use of live ammunition, which killed 13 Israeli Palestinians last fall? Live ammunition was not used on Jewish rioters.

A few years ago, the Israeli government was shown to have a 70:30 policy in the City of Jerusalem which to maintain a 70 percent Jewish population over 29 percent Muslim and 1 percent Christian minorities. This has been accomplished through home demolitions, denial of building permits, ID card confiscations, and residency revocations.

Is their any question as to whether these would be considered racist policies in other regions of the world?

A few years back a survey in the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahranoth showed that the majority of Israeli teens believe that Palestinians do not deserve the same rights as them. One shudders to think what they are learning from their parents.

One would think that more than most individuals, Jews who survived the Holocaust or descended from victims and survivors would be among the greatest teachers of tolerance. Not as it pertains to Palestinians.

Here lies another of the great tragedies associated with the Palestinians: they have been expected to pay the price for the ills of the Europeans and Americans – the perpetrators and enablers of the Jewish Holocaust.

For decades we have seen the West try to wipe away its sins on the backs of Palestinians: often turning history upside down, or trying to solve problems by creating other problems. For example, the West lead in formulating the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947 which apportioned 55 percent of British Mandate Palestine to the Jewish community which owned less than 10 percent of the land, and it was American F-16 jet fighters and Apache helicopters that Israel has used in putting down the intifada.

The U.N. conference was yet another extension of these amelioration tactics. When does it stop? And when do these same countries begin to look within themselves and realize that just as they enabled the Jewish Holocaust, so they have and continue to enable another catastrophe?

It is understandable that the term "racist" bothers Israelis. Nobody wants to be called a racist, particularly those who were forced to wear patches to identify them in Nazi Germany. But the policies Israel pursues are exactly this.

If it doesn't like the well-deserved label, then it should stop its racist practices.

As to the West, which seems to suffer from the endless guilt and fear of the label "anti-Semitic," it is time to ask how it is advancing justice by refusing to call a spade a spade?

How many Palestinians have to die or suffer from Israel's policies before futile condemnations are translated into the kind of punitive policies that became commonplace with Apartheid South Africa?

It was Henry Katzew, a former South African journalist now living in Israel, who once stated in South Africa: a Country Without Friends: "What is the difference between the way in which the Jewish people struggles to remain what it is in the midst of a non-Jewish population, and the way the Afrikaners try to stay what they are?"

There is no difference.

Sherri Muzher is a Palestinian-American activist, lawyer, and freelance journalist.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xRacism: when will we face the facts?``x1000425600,91770,Articles``x``x ``x( Ras Forever ) Greetings Dearly Beloved in the name of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Sellassie the First.
As Rastafari who have witnessed the most massive death and destruction caused by a combination of events and forces on Tuesday 11th September in the United States of America. We would firstly like to express our deepest and most sincere regrets to all those who are now experiencing pain and trauma that most would certainly have had no inputs in creating. Our sympathies and wishes is for quick and successful resolutions of all personal difficulties and negative effects of the aftermath of Tuesday's events.

Secondly it is hoped that none of our Rastafari Collective and their families have been affected by the tragic events. If any are, our firmest heartfelt sympathies go out to you and yours. Can you please inform of us of your respective situations as soon as you can afford to do so.

Thirdly it is imperative that the idea that anyone, anywhere in the world, can use their weapons of destruction to settle disputes among the human family, be totally denounced and condemned. The slaughter of innocent people going about their business of providing for their families is a crime against humanity, always was and always will be. So as Rastafari an emphatic rejection of any such notion is compulsory and must be non partisan.

Finally as the world has been brought to the crossroads by force to confront a moral and political crisis. The question to be asked is, can the solution to this crisis be more of the same that brought us to this path, or is it our duty to find and shine a light to show another way. As Rastafari Collective we must as a solution, support and promote enlightened leadership, which exhibits moral guidance and moves mankind away from the paths that has failed us, one that has caused so much grief, pain and suffering to our fellow man everywhere.

Rastafari can lead the way and our support right now goes out to those families and individuals who are now hurting. May Jah Almighty bring healing and comfort to all afflicted, in any manner. Jah Bless, Guide and Protect. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xA Rastafari View of the Tragedy``x1000427815,85451,Members``x``x ``x( Ijahnya Christian ) Heartical Love to the Rastafari Nation

May the Might and Iwa of the Hola Trinity reign within I an I hearts for Iver.

Blood and Fire, Death and Destruction in the USA. I an I join all Imanity in feeling the pain of the victims and their loved ones who were simply reporting to work another day - but not because Caribbean people are among them and not because all this is happening in the USA. It is the pain that I an I must feel everytime in every place for who can breathe the breath of life?

I am therefore responding to the media reportage that has given a particular face to the terrorist completely forgetting the unrepentant face of Timothy McVeigh at the time of his execution. The terrorist is the evil infidel who has different genes, a different religion and culture and who comes from a different part of the world. The mother of the terrorist feels no pain at his birth for she and his father are not created by the Almighty like the rest of us but by Satan. Decent, civilized, God-fearing people like Americans do things in a brave, civilized and God-fearing way. We train soldiers and raise armies and ask God's blessings on our troops before we go off to fight other armies, trained by other nations to respond in a similar manner. We tell righteous lies to our people about how we won the war and may or may not apologise for the tremendous loss of civilian life - not just human but the evil enemy. It is the same USA that just decided that it would not even be confronted with the demand for reparations much less issue an apology for the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity. Remember, part of the rationale for our enslavement was that we were infidels, heathens who needed to be enslaved so we could be Christianised. The terrorist prays before he does the honourable thing of giving his life for his cause. Honourable? He is a coward and his god is not really God.

I say we Americans for in the Caribbean Region, our world view is shaped and influenced by the USA. For some of us this is literal as well as symbolic. Uncle Sam is really our Uncle. I live on the island of Anguilla which is still a British colony but the USA feeds us, clothes us, shelters us and provides us with medicine. We allow its greatest tool and weapon to raise our children and then wonder why their behaviours seem so akin to those they soak up so many hours of daily watching.

If America says the terrorists are evil, then they must be evil and conversely the victim nation must be good. Somehow I am helped to think not just "what a terrible act" but "what a terrible act upon so good and upright a nation as the USA." Unfortunately, the history of the USA does not look so good. Nothing much has changed in the world and shortly, we will witness more in a retaliation that will be "justified" but will not necessarily be just. The allies in the developed no doubt recognise their own vulnerabilities. We on these small islands may be of no interest to the terrorists but one good hurricane, earthquake or volcano can give us the same result.

As I reflect on the carnage, it is the words of HIM immortalised by Brother Bob as 'War' that remove not the horror but the surprise.

"Until the philosopy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is War, Me say war

That until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colur of his eyes,
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race,
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship,
Rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued but never attained
Now everywhere is War...

War in the East, War in the West,
War up North, War down South,
War, War, rumours of War..."

and further,

"These are crucial times when nations rise against nations, tensions increase and disaster is possible at any moment. Distances are shrinking. Peace and life itself are threatened by misunderstanding and conflict. Now is the time when man's relationship to God must be the foundation for all his efforts toward enlightenment, and learning, the basis for understanding, cooperation and peace..."

It is not the way our nation would have preferred to celebrate the New Year but let us learn from the events of September 11th. and let nothing detract us from the "basic premise...that men of all races, beliefs and status share some essential common goals..."

and further still,

"Our efforts as free men must be to establish new relationships, devoid of any resentment and hostility, restored to our belief and faith in ourselves as individuals, dealing on a basis of equality with other equally free people. We believe in cooperation and collaboration to promote the cause of international security, the equality of man and the welfare of mankind. We believe in the peaceful settlements of all disputes without resorting to force. All well ordered and modern states can only base themselves upon Courts of Justice and Conduct of Laws which are just, correct and geared towards the protection of the rights of individuals..."

Somehow I do not think that the USA is preparing to go to Court.

Just sharing the views of a Sister Empress with the Words of His Majesty. What do you think?

One Perfect Love ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAttack on America - the enemy is always evil``x1000475243,25015,Members``x``x ``x( Tim Wise ) I was not where I needed to be last night. Not physically, and not emotionally. My daughter is ten weeks old. And last night, and tonight as well, only her mother will be able to hold her, and kiss her goodnight, and hug her, and wipe up her spit.

I am somewhere else.

Tonight I will call home, and speak to my wife, who gave birth to that precious baby girl amidst such hope and pain. And in the background, I will hear that baby’s cry: as if she knows something is terribly wrong. Because babies can feel things that the rest of us have learned to repress.

And yet when I finally call I find her laughing, consumed with a desire to do nothing more than reach out, reach out, reach out, and bat at the soft hanging stars and moons that hang from her mobile.

I sigh a deep sigh of relief. The air escaping my lungs, and signifying recognition that 10-week-old babies do not, in fact, understand mass death. They have only begun, indeed, to understand their own life.

It is their parents, it is we, who must impose upon their innocent, naïve, and far preferable world, with the truth that one day mommy or daddy may leave for work and not come back.

It is the parents; it is we, who must impose upon their world, altering forever their smiling, drooling faces that you can only see through the bitter tears of your own disillusionment.

You cannot protect them. Cannot keep them young forever. Oh what I would give to be so young and naïve, as to require my mommy or daddy to wipe my nose and speak to me about anything but mass death.

It is their parents; it is we, who have to tell them of their nation’s talk of massive retaliation, and hunting down those responsible for mass death. And inflicting upon them some more mass death, to convince still others--once and for all--that mass death really doesn’t pay. And that our collective national dick is bigger than theirs.

And while I never expected to speak to you of such things at such a tender age, you might as well know that it is always and forever about the length and circumference of one’s national phallus.

Size, it seems, does matter, whether for missiles, or tall buildings, or the airplanes that bring them down. Their shapes (and make a note of it now for future reference), are no coincidence.

So if Osama Bin Laden is the man of the hour, then Al Haig and Hank Kissinger and their students--who, as it turns out know a little somethin’ ‘bout mass death--are apt to make sure he knows how killing is really done. Because they are hung like horses.

Killers have tutors, see, and the classes are full. How many people can they kill? Can we kill? (Kill, Kill). "Kill ‘em all, let God sort ‘em out." That’s what the bumper sticker prophets say. But God has better things to do, I figure, than to sort through the tangled mess that is both the New York financial district and also the human condition at this late date.

I have been in those buildings, have you? I have dropped my quarter in the silver, shiny viewfinders that you could look through, and get a close up view of Greenwich Village, or the Empire State Building, or the Hudson River, or Fort Lee, New Jersey. If for some strange and largely inexplicable reason you felt the need to see Fort Lee, with the assistance of a 1000x magnification lens.

I have dropped my quarters in slots my daughter will never see, in buildings she will never enter, on observation decks that do not exist any longer, except in my mind. And I have listened as the timer counted down the time left before the viewfinder would fade to black.

And I can imagine looking thru the viewfinder, and wondering why that plane looks so damned close.

I can imagine looking uptown as the plane came closer, and closer, and seeing Harlem, and thinking, damn: I shoulda gone to Sylvia’s Soul Food. ‘Cause Harlem, far from being the bad part of town, was one of the safest places in New York yesterday. Even terrorists know which victims count the most in America.

America, if you want safety, you’d best get your ass to the ‘hood. Get your boogie shoes to 123rd street. Move immediately into the Robert Taylor Homes, or Cabrini Green, or the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. Do not pass go, let alone Wall Street. For there you are like sitting ducks.

And now what baby girl? Will we shed the blood of innocent babies so much like you, to demonstrate to the world how precious your life is? You had best hope not baby girl. Because if so you will never be safe. Not now, and not when you are old enough to understand, and fear, and tremble, like I am right now.

We will be signing a death warrant. If not yours, perhaps that of some other baby girl or boy. Maybe one that was being born at 8:42 this morning, while others were dying in mass death.

‘Cause what goes around, most definitely goes around, and around, and around, and around.

And all the tough talk and swagger and muscle flexing and chest thumping and pontifications that the folks who did this are cowards, cannot conceal the fact that so far there are no brave souls in the mix yet.

There is nothing brave about committing mass murder to be sure. But neither is there bravery in adding to the body count. Neither is there bravery in Senator Hatch’s testosterone-soaked diatribe about "going after the bastards," or officials saying no options are being ruled out, including nuclear weapons.

What a lesson that would teach. Like stealing the stereo of the guy who took your car to prove how much we respect private property. And then your VCR is at risk, and his watch, and your jewelry. Jewelry you could pawn on E-bay on any other day, but not tonight. ‘Cause folks are too busy bidding on chunks of the 39th floor.

So welcome to the world, dear baby girl. And sleep well tonight. And remain young for as long as you can. For one day, not so far from this day, everything will change again. As it always has.

And rivers of blood will be added to rivers of blood, all of it red and flowing downhill as blood tends to do as it seeks its own level. And mountains of bodies higher than the towers brought down on this day will be stacked: In the name of God. In the name of money. In the name of security. In the name of revenge. In the names of people with names like Osama and George and Ariel or Allah or Jesus.

Or to satisfy our desire for real, real, reality TV. So much so, that eating rats will seem like a day at Disney.

And your alarm system will not protect you baby girl. ‘The Club’ will not protect you. The police cannot protect you. Missile defense sure as shit can’t protect you. Even I can’t protect you. And I love you more than anything or anyone in this world. So my inadequacy is profound indeed

I wish that love could protect you; not just mine but that of others. But I’m not sure how much of that is left. It is on markdown; on the sale rack; on clearance; but no buyers today.

Love is too expensive for some, even when on sale. Too costly in time, if not in money. ‘Cause although money can’t buy you love, enough money can buy lots of cruise missiles, and napalm, and mass death.

It really isn’t complicated, baby girl. Most important things aren’t. You’ll learn this. Or more to the point, you’ll learn it and then forget it, as age makes you add layers of complication to what once seemed obvious. And that complexity will be called brilliance by your culture: nuance, depth. But really it’s just mostly vapid bullshit. Sterility posing as wisdom.

In the end it comes down to just a few simple truths. And while I wish I had thought of them myself, the simple truth about these simple truths is that they’ve been said before, and better than I could, by James Baldwin, who did not write them for this purpose, though they strangely seem to fit.

First, that those who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast upon the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.

And secondly, that even in darkness, we must remember that there is a light somewhere. One discovers the light in darkness. That is what darkness is for. And what the light illuminates is danger, and what it demands is faith...I know that sometimes we fail, and that one often feels that one cannot start over again. And yet we must. The light, the light...one will perish without the light.

For nothing is fixed, forever and forever, it is not fixed. The earth is always shifting. The light is always changing. The sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born. And we are responsible to them, because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails. Lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. And the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us, and the light goes out.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xTo My Baby Girl, On the Day After ``x1000534281,87057,``x``x ``x( Orlando Marville ) The Conference on Racism has ended with the usual resolutions, but with a certain taste of defeat. I wonder if I am exaggerating when I suggest that this was a planned ending, with everyone saying that racism is the opposite of motherhood, but everyone somehow escaping any responsibility for what has happened to millions of persons on this globe. I would wish to make some observations on some of the fundamental problems involved in the idea of the conference.

The idea of a conference on racism was an excellent one. Racism is as rampant, if not more so, as it was in the distant seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when Europe began to talk of “progress” and of Indo-Europeans, when they pretended that Greece had created all the wisdom that mankind possessed independently and that Egypt was more of a backward, stagnant society than the marvel of civilisation and social organisation that it had been.

Racism grew up with the slave trade and Europe’s burgeoning cockiness that it was able to go out and conquer the rest of mankind. Surely, brutal conquest indicated a definitive superiority. Additionally, if Africans had been made into permanent slaves, how could one glorify Egypt?

Racism is a problem that we need to deal with. So is the question of what is happening in the Middle East. So is the question of the slave trade having been a crime against humanity. So is the continuing traffic in human beings in Sudan and elsewhere.

So is the horrendous treatment that colonising peoples, whether they were Spanish, white Australian, Euro-Canadian or Portuguese, dealt out to indigenous peoples everywhere. The problem arises when they are all lumped together in a single conference.

This benefits only those who have been the transgressors. They can then walk out of the conference on one pretext or another, but, if truth were to be told, they would never have been present at a conference that dealt either with slavery as a crime against humanity and reparations as the single topic of the conference, or the treatment of indigenous people in the past.

The problem was that we mistook this omnibus affair for a real opportunity to discuss the matters that are outstanding. There were, however, conferences that discussed single issues like reparations to Jewish people for the horrors of the holocaust. Was this proper? My unequivocal answer is in the affirmative.

What was done to the Jews was totally unacceptable by any modern standard that we now use, even if there are still Nazi apologists that pretend that the holocaust was a Hollywood myth. What was done to the Romer, whom we call Gypsies, by the same Nazis was even more horrendous in that it practically decimated the Romer population of Europe. By the same token, I would ask if slavery was a crime against humanity and my answer would be unequivocally yes.

It is therefore only proper that Europe apologise to the millions of descendants of the millions they enslaved and forced to work on their plantations. And, yes, there should be reparations as there were reparations for the Jews. How did the Jews succeed and we fail? There are several possible answers. However, the one that strikes me as the most compelling is that the Jews put forward their argument from a position of strength. They were organised at the level of the Press and at the level of a single state as well as in every public forum. We are not.

Indeed, while it would be extremely difficult to find anyone of the Jewish faith who would speak against reparations for the treatment that their ancestors received in the holocaust, there are some of us who think that slavery was not such a bad thing after all. Such people do not even see why anyone should talk about reparations far less try to understand what reparations involve.

Of course, they would not be averse to a bit of change in their pockets, but God forbid that we talk about reparation in terms of debt forgiveness for Africa or in terms of actually levelling the playing field or correcting the revisionist history that they taught both themselves and us. Frankly, if reparations are to mean anything, they must be focused on a correction of the past.

The simple disbursement of money will not do that. It means an apology from the Christian Church, which at every turn supported slavery. It also means an apology from that other great world religion, Islam. It means an apology to those dragged from Ireland and Scotland on the basis of some semi-slave system of indenture.

It means the recognition of where we have gone wrong as humanity and a commitment to do the right thing now and in the future.

It is simply not acceptable that the North Atlantic continue to preach about human rights as if they have some superior moral standing. We all know pretty well that they do not.

Now that we have had the conference, where do we go from here? Again, the simple answer is that we have had the conference and that is that. No! This is the sort of defeatism, which, had it been practised by the Jews would have left them in a continuing underclass to this day. We have to begin to learn from other people’s successes and not simply accept our defeats with finality.

There is only one way forward: the struggle must go on. We seem as a group of human beings, and here I refer to all of the disenfranchised, to stop whenever we gain a victory, almost as if the war had ended.

• Orlando Marville is a retired diplomat and an expert on African affairs ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xMARVELLING: The Conference On Racism ``x1000598400,10977,Members``x``x ``x( Stephen R. Shalom ) The list below presents specific incidents of U.S. policy in the Middle East. The list minimizes the grievances against the United States in the region because it excludes more generalized long-standing policies, such as U.S. backing for authoritarian regimes (arming Saudi Arabia, training the secret police in Iran under the Shah, providing arms and aid to Turkey as it ruthlessly attacked Kurdish villages, etc.) The list also excludes actions of Israel in which the United States is indirectly implicated because Israel has been the leading or second-ranking recipient of U.S. aid for many years and has received U.S. high-tech weaponry and the diplomatic benefit of U.S. veto power in the Security Council.

1948: Israel established. U.S. declines to press Israel to allow expelled Palestinians to return.

1949: CIA backs military coup deposing elected government of Syria.

1953: CIA helps overthrow the democratically-elected Mossadeq government in Iran (which had nationalized the British oil company) leading to a quarter-century of repressive and dictatorial rule by the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi.

1956: U.S. cuts off promised funding for Aswan Dam in Egypt after Egypt receives Eastern bloc arms.

1956: Israel, Britain, and France invade Egypt. U.S. does not support invasion, but the involvement of its NATO allies severely diminishes Washington's reputation in the region.

1958: U.S. troops land in Lebanon to preserve "stability".

early 1960s: U.S. unsuccessfully attempts assassination of Iraqi leader, Abdul Karim Qassim.

1963: U.S. reported to gives Iraqi Ba'ath party (soon to be headed by Saddam Hussein) names of communists to murder, which they do with vigor.

1967-: U.S. blocks any effort in the Security Council to enforce SC Resolution 244, calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the 1967 war.

1970: Civil war between Jordan and PLO. Israel and U.S. prepare to intervene on side of Jordan if Syria backs PLO.

1972: U.S. blocks Sadat's efforts to reach a peace agreement with Egypt.

1973: U.S. military aid enables Israel to turn the tide in war with Syria and Egypt.

1973-75: U.S. supports Kurdish rebels in Iraq. When Iran reaches an agreement with Iraq in 1975 and seals the border, Iraq slaughters Kurds and U.S. denies them refuge. Kissinger secretly explains that "covert action should not be confused with missionary work."

1978-79: Iranians begin demonstrations against the Shah. U.S. tells Shah it supports him "without reservation" and urges him to act forcefully. Until the last minute, U.S. tries to organize military coup to save the Shah, but to no avail.

1979-88: U.S. begins covert aid to Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months before Soviet invasion in Dec. 1979. Over the next decade U.S. provides training and more than $3 billion in arms and aid.

1980-88: Iran-Iraq war. When Iraq invades Iran, the U.S. opposes any Security Council action to condemn the invasion. U.S. soon removes Iraq from its list of nations supporting terrorism and allows U.S. arms to be transferred to Iraq. At the same time, U.S. lets Israel provide arms to Iran and in 1985 U.S. provides arms directly (though secretly) to Iran. U.S. provides intelligence information to Iraq. Iraq uses chemical weapons in 1984; U.S. restores diplomatic relations with Iraq. 1987 U.S. sends its navy into the Persian Gulf, taking Iraq's side; an overly-aggressive U.S. ship shoots down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290.

1981, 1986: U.S. holds military maneuvers off the coast of Libya in waters claimed by Libya with the clear purpose of provoking Qaddafi. In 1981, a Libyan plane fires a missile and two Libyan planes shot down. In 1986, Libya fires missiles that land far from any target and U.S. attacks Libyan patrol boats, killing 72, and shore installations. When a bomb goes off in a Berlin nightclub, killing two, the U.S. charges that Qaddafi was behind it (possibly true) and conducts major bombing raids in Libya, killing dozens of civilians, including Qaddafi's adopted daughter.

1982: U.S. gives "green light" to Israeli invasion of Lebanon, killing more than 10,000 civilians. U.S. chooses not to invoke its laws prohibiting Israeli use of U.S. weapons except in self-defense.

1983: U.S. troops sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping force; intervene on one side of a civil war. Withdraw after suicide bombing of marine barracks.

1984: U.S.-backed rebels in Afghanistan fire on civilian airliner.

1988: Saddam Hussein kills many thousands of his own Kurdish population and uses chemical weapons against them. The U.S. increases its economic ties to Iraq.

1990-91: U.S. rejects any diplomatic settlement of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait (for example, rebuffing any attempt to link the two regional occupations, of Kuwait and of Palestine). U.S. leads international coalition in war against Iraq. Civilian infrastructure targeted. To promote "stability" U.S. refuses to aid post-war uprisings by Shi'ites in the south and Kurds in the north, denying the rebels access to captured Iraqi weapons and refusing to prohibit Iraqi helicopter flights.

1991-: Devastating economic sanctions are imposed on Iraq. U.S. and Britain block all attempts to lift them. Hundreds of thousands die. Though Security Council had stated that sanctions were to be lifted once Saddam Hussein's programs to develop weapons of mass destruction were ended, Washington makes it known that the sanctions would remain as long as Saddam remains in power. Sanctions in fact strengthen Saddam's position. Asked about the horrendous human consequences of the sanctions, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declares that "the price is worth it."

1993-: U.S. launches missile attack on Iraq, claiming self-defense against an alleged assassination attempt on former president Bush two months earlier.

1998: U.S. and U.K. bomb Iraq over the issue of weapons inspections, even though Security Council is just then meeting to discuss the matter.

1998: U.S. destroys factory producing half of Sudan's pharmaceutical supply, claiming retaliation for attacks on U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and that factory was involved in chemical warfare. U.S. later acknowledges there is no evidence for the chemical warfare charge.

http://www.zmag.org/shalomhate.htm``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe United States and Middle East: Why Do "They" Hate Us?``x1000768401,93410,Articles``x``x ``x( Robert Jensen ) We are told that in this time of crisis, all good Americans should rally around the president and the flag.

I will rally, but not around a leader calling for war or a symbol of nationalism.

It is easy to understand the emotion behind the chanting of "USA, USA." But I will not chant.

In this time of crisis, I will rally around policies that seek peace and security, for all people everywhere. And instead of chanting, I will speak quietly about the grief we all feel, and loudly about the need to resist our leaders' plans for global war.

Decent people agree that in this time of crisis, we cannot let the lines of color and culture, of language and religion, divide us. But we need to go another step, to understand that the lines dividing people based on nations are just as dangerous. We must also agree not to give in to the urge to value the lives of innocent Americans over the lives of innocent people in other countries.

For the past few days -- in person and on the phone, through email and on the radio -- I have been called "unpatriotic," condemned as a "traitor" and labeled "anti-American" because my writing has opposed the drive to war, the call for blood to avenge those who died in the terror attacks.

But I also have heard from many others who also are concerned that U.S. officials will take us into a war that will bring only more death, pain and grief, leaving us less secure. They want to speak out but fear being attacked for not being "good Americans."

This is a moment when we need the courage to say that being a good American does not mean supporting a war so violent and so indiscriminate that more innocent people will die.

That does not mean we renounce the ideals of freedom and justice so often associated with the United States; we should hold onto those ideals more fiercely than ever and put them into practice by resisting the rush to war.

We should honor the ideals of this country by saying, in as clear a voice as we can manage: Not in our name will the United States seek vengeance or go forward to kill.

It is important to read closely the joint resolution passed by Congress, which authorizes the president "to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons."

That is not a resolution based on a quest for justice. It is an open-ended invitation to attack anyone U.S. leaders decide to target. And those leaders -- Dick Cheney and Colin Powell among them -- are some of the same people who during the Gulf War unleashed attacks not only on military targets but on civilians and the entire civilian infrastructure of Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people during and after the war. This resolution, and the statements from the Bush administration about an ongoing global war, suggest that what is coming will be even more frightening.

When we speak out against war in public, we will find support, but we also should expect hostility. We should expect the question posed by one of the people who wrote to condemn me: "Whose side are you on?"

The answers to that are simple:

I am on the side of the people -- no matter where they live -- who will suffer the violence, not the leaders -- no matter where they live -- who will plan it.

I am on the side of peace, not war.

I am on the side of justice, not vengeance.

And most important, I am on the side of hope, not despair.

We do not have the luxury of despair right now. There is too much at stake for too many people.

Robert Jensen is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He can be reached at rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

http://www.zmag.org/jensenres.htm``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xWhy I will not rally around the president``x1000768959,37458,Articles``x``x ``x( Brian Dominick ) On Wednesday, September 12, I was witness to the greatest argument against war the North American Left has ever had.

I've never liked New York City. I've only gone there for the most compelling of reasons. When I awoke to the horrifying news of the incidents there on Tuesday morning -- still occurring, unbeknownst to anyone -- I already knew I would be going again. As a certified emergency medical technician, and a radical activist with street experience in mass casualty scenarios (through my involvement in the little-known field called "action medical"), it wasn't a matter of weighing options. The only questions were how? and how soon?

I have told my story in great detail elsewhere. It isn't a story about my own heroism. It isn't a story about life-threatening or life-saving adventure. I wish it were. If I'd had any opportunity for heroism, any opportunity to save lives, that would mean so too did thousands of others. We already know thousands of lives were saved. My story begins at a point when there was little remaining success in such endeavors. It is a story about tragedy.

My partner, Rachel, and I spent most of the day Wednesday working in the decontamination area at St. Vincent's Trauma Center, one of the main hospitals where blast victims and injured rescuers had been and were being taken. We had the opportunity to meet dozens of emergency workers, and treated several of them for minor injuries and contamination resulting from their participation in this most massive of rescue operations.

What we did not see is even more depressing. Our job was to strip and scrub victims when they were first brought in, so the soot they'd arrive covered in would not contaminate the rest of the hospital., then deliver them to the ER. Unfortunately, despite rumors (even over official channels), these rescued victims simply weren't showing up. While the rest of the world was hoping and praying more rescues would be made, it was becoming ominously obvious at St. Vincent's that there would quite simply be few more survivors, if any.

In all, I would meet and talk to dozens of EMTs, hospital staff, firefighters, and other emergency workers. There was by now more exhaustion than dust in the air. Both tasted identical. One doctor who sat down near us was literally surprised by how it felt to actually sit down. It had been 24 hours, he announced, since he hadn't had his full weight on his feet. One nurse complained that her feet were so sore she was having trouble standing, much less walking -- I could only imagine.

What I didn't hear, at all, were emergency workers of any kind clamoring for retaliation or war. In fact, it occurs to me that one of the only groups of people in this country which isn't demanding vengeance are the very people tasked with taking care of survivors, and recovering the thousands of bodies left in the mess.

Among rescue and medical personnel in New York, the focus was on saving lives, not on taking more. This is certainly due in part to the necessity of staying focused on the job at hand, even during much-needed breaks. However, I think this restraint is also being shown because few people involved in the rescue efforts can bring themselves to wish upon others what they are currently going through.

That night, we milled around for a while, checking in with some EMTs to see how they were holding up. We actually engaged in a very normal, generic medical conversation with one EMT. Anything for a distraction...

It was during such a conversation that Senator Chuck Schumer passed by us while we sat on the steps to the ER. He stopped and turned to us. "I know what you've all been doing," he said. "You're all heroes." Four or five of us just stared back at him. I'm not sure about our newfound friends, but Rachel, Meredith and I didn't feel like heroes. It was odd to be referred to as such. We didn't know what to say. No one spoke. He didn't seem to mind. He turned and left.

After a little discussion, and a few cups of coffee handed over by smiling volunteers, we decided to go deeper into the security zones with us. We headed down on foot. We wouldn't need to consult a map -- smoke still rising skyward marked our heading for us.

It was well over a mile to Ground Zero. Halfway there, a police officer put us in a DPW truck and told the drivers to deliver us to the site. I was no longer surprised that, for this moment in time, not only were cops uninterested in bashing my head, they would go out of their way to help us try to be helpful. The oddities were piling up with the rubble. Many of them were welcome.

What we found at The Site was an incredible scene. A light grey ash was met by reflections and glares of floodlights overhead, giving every still surface the appearance of having been lightly snowed upon. Where water from fire hoses or water main leaks had come in contact with this substance, it created small pools that resembled slush. I almost shivered by association, but alas we had had beautiful weather all day, and it remained quite warm even after dark. In fact, it felt oddly warmer near the site than it had at the hospital.

Here the National Guard presence was quite obvious. We hadn't seen many Guardsmen before arriving at The Site. After asking around, we made our way to a place where dozens of ambulances were stationed in front of a school building. Here again we had the sense of being useless. Not because we weren't official or connected or skilled enough to help -- but because there was simply nothing for EMS to do. Few if any survivors were being recovered. The scene was a grim convention of chauffeurs awaiting passengers who were simply not going to arrive.

It was at The Site that the extent of this tragedy finally began to settle in on me. Until then, as for most people in the country and around the world, this monumental event had been a story, just like any other major piece of news. Granted, I had come all this way, expecting to experience the tragedy for myself, but it was difficult to accept that out of so many thousands of people known to have been in or around the buildings, so few were going to emerge. EMS workers milled about everywhere, attempting to ignore the fact that we were being ignored by those excavating the site, who simply didn't require our specialized assistance.

Fire crews marched into the misty air floating over the rubble, toward the flood lights and away from us. I wanted to follow them, but there was a limit to where my EMT credentials would allow me access. Most of what they were pulling out was concrete. That which was organic was far more likely to be a corpse or a body part than a living human being.

One of the things I noticed about Ground Zero was that pretty much the only people not wearing respirators or masks of some kind were the firefighters themselves. Nearly all EMS, National Guard and police personnel were covering their faces for protection from the dust. It was no secret that all sorts of horrible chemicals and substances were floating around in all that particulate debris. Yet almost none of the firefighters seemed to be wearing respiratory protection.

After thinking long and hard about that, I decided it might well be a demonstration of solidarity for their brethren trapped below. All day one got the impression that, for the firefighters, the sense of urgency was higher than for most everyone else. They all knew people buried beneath the rubble. Additionally, they identified with them very strongly. It reminded me of the bond among action medics, and the way I've seen my fellow action medics behave in the streets when medics were injured or in trouble.

We wandered into the command center -- the school cafeteria -- and made one last attempt to get involved through official channels. There the EMS dispatch officer expressed more gratitude, but explained that "freelance EMS people" were being told to go home. He saw our St. Vincent's security passes and inquired about the status there. I knew he didn't want to know "how many" patients were being brought in, like everyone else did. He knew that number all too well. We just told him St. Vincent's was running smoothly, and he seemed glad to hear it.

I sat down at a table, and noticed a piece of paper with a color photo attached to it. The picture was of a young woman in her early twenties. It had her name and other identifying information on it. Her family had managed to pass it along this far. She was missing. And like everyone else who was missing, she was presumed dead.

We didn't want to leave New York, but staying there had become too painful for me. Being unable to help kept me acutely aware of just how terrible this tragedy was. I didn't think I could stand it anymore.

The drive home was as fast as the drive down. It was more silent, though. We alternated between listening to the news -- which we'd hardly done all day -- and listening to music CDs. A million thoughts stewed around in my head. It felt good to have been able to do something, but in context, it seemed we'd done almost nothing at all. For medics, there simply wasn't enough to be done.

We listened to irate voices on the news, trying to reconcile the attitudes of those calling for vengeful murder, with those rescue workers struggling for life. This new wave of bloodlust, it occurred to me, is more a result of feeling helpless, than of anything rational or reasonable.

When we cry out for violence, we are indeed asking our leaders to do to other civilians and rescue workers precisely what has happened to us here. Let us use great caution and prudence in our solutions to this horror. We owe that to our counterparts the world over -- people who by no means deserve to suffer the way we are now.

I think most people, having seen what I just have, would be hesitant to call for an expansion of this horror. Our country's first-hand experience with the reality of warlike violence will prove, in the end, our best leverage against engaging in yet another senseless bloodbath. Now that we have felt the pain our nation has continually and relentlessly dealt other nations, we have a unique opportunity to learn the lessons of the images and ravages of war even before we start.

[Brian Dominick is a street first aid instructor and an active street medic, affiliated with the NorthEast Action Medics Association (NEAMA) and the Radical Emergency Squad (RESQ). Besides being a medic, Brian is a political commentator, a website developer/editor for ZNet (www.zmag.org), and a community activist.]

http://www.zmag.org/dominickcalam.htm``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe Greatest Argument Against War``x1000769783,84996,Articles``x``x ``x( Michael Albert ) Beyond Bush and his ilk predictably trying to use calamity to propel their reactionary agendas on every front they can, from repressive legislation about eavesdropping, to military expansion, and even to tax policy -- it is certainly also true and must be faced that many citizens are in a violent mood, suggesting all kinds of anti-civilian acts. So many that it feels overwhelming.

But how many U.S. citizens who are advocating bombings realize that the people of Afghanistan already live in a horrendously war-torn country, made virtually rubble from its war with Russia? How many understand that hunger and the danger of starvation for Afghanistan is so great that a misstep at this juncture – for example, cutting off all outside food aid, even without bombs – could cause not thousands but literally millions of innocent deaths by starvation? Not many of our citizens, is my guess. When such information is conveyed, how many will hold to the vengeful stance? When it becomes evident that vengeance by assault on civilians is precisely terrorism, that assault on civilians for political purposes is precisely terrorism, how many will want to hold to warring indiscriminately, to being a terrorist? One wonders how many of those working at Ground Zero in NYC would wish military devastation on innocent civilians in another country. Not many, if any, is my guess.

But what is even more promising, is that even in a moment of great pain and mourning, even at a time of national rallying, even when all public pressures cry for war, even before there has been opportunity to counter media madness and government manipulation with valid argument and evidence, even now many and probably most people are already wondering at least somewhat about the wisdom of Bush’s stance, and are even contemplating such unspeakable conclusions as that the cure for terrorism is not more and even greater terrorism, and that the cure for fanaticism is not to dispense with civil liberties.

I think there may be a tendency afoot among many activists, totally understandable, to see the great outpourings of nationalism and to be pessimistic beyond what evidence warrants. Yes, the events have been horrible in their immediate impact, of course. And yes the hypocritical willingness of Bush and others to try to parlay pain into more suffering in different forms, and even into more terror, has been stunning and terrifying. But there are good signs too – not solely in the humanity of the massive outpourings of sympathy, but also in the opposition to race hatred against Arabs that has erupted as quickly and perhaps more pervasively than the reverse, and in the almost instantaneous emergence of both reason and activism regarding war prospects.

Thus I want to share with you information from a communication from Portland Oregon. The letter writer communicates that:

“Today we had an anti-war demo in Portland. Like so many of you have expressed, I too have felt that we are heading into a very dark time for activism, no less radical politics.

“Now, Portland has seen a fair amount of activism lately - events large (1500+ for this year's May Day march, which had a permit taken out by the City Council because organizers refused to get one and the city didn't want to arrest everyone) and small (40 radical activists and union brothers and sisters shutting down the Port of Portland and delaying the offloading of an Italian vessel in protest of the G8 police rioting, a picket line which the longshoremen refused to cross, setting off similar actions as that ship proceeded along the west coast).

“I say all that for context, because I reckon things are a bit "better" here for that sort of activism than in many other communities around the country.

“Having said that, this was the largest demonstration I've been to in Portland since the Gulf War! Organizers were able to do a pretty good count as we were walking along a narrow area, and there were at least 2600 people there to speak against the incessant beating of the war drums.

“Nobody could believe it. Everyone (strangers I talked to, acquaintances I talked to) had been feeling very isolated and had taken on a very bleak attitude about the future of `the left.’

“We marched in the streets without a permit, spanning 12 or more blocks. There were no police anywhere to be seen. “This caused some problems, in that they *do* tend to be helpful with traffic control. Ah, well... we did ok without 'em on that one too, a few irate drivers notwithstanding :-)

“Well, 2600 isn't enough to stop the impending war, but it's a far bigger start than anyone expected. All is not lost! Let's not let our gloomy perspectives of the moment, (which are perfectly understandable as we watch the manufacture of consent occur before our very eyes, at breakneck speed) let's not let that gloom turn our very rational fears into a self-fulfilling prophesy.

“Afterward, I went to a `vigil’ organized by the Christian Coalition :-( This occurred in the main `public’ square in town (semi-privately owned and operated). There were fewer people at this one, but not by much. The creepy rhetoric of right-wing Christianity was toned down, but not by much. At least it was toned down though. We were there mostly in case of needing to protect any victims of the racism seething beneath the surface.

“I stood amidst the sea of American flags, amidst the `rousing’ renditions of the great patriotic hits, holding a `Jingoism Hurts America’ sign. I got into some rather interesting conversations with people who wanted to know what jingoism meant. I described it as a form of rhetoric using a chauvinistic patriotism to justify an arrogant and belligerent foreign policy. Some nodded and walked away, but many lingered to discuss. My friends and I were only too happy to oblige :-) With some sensitivity, it is possible to clue people in on the activities of the CIA in the overthrow of democratic governments, the institution of autocratic regimes such as the Taliban, and the creation of Osama bin Laden himself.

“I couldn't believe the conversations! Who knows if we did anything. Anyhow, it's not necessarily doom and gloom - let's get back out there and be visible, now!

I got the above letter without a return email address for its author. But here is my reply…Yes, you did something. You did precisely what we all need to be doing. You went out and worked for peace and justice, and you did it without fear and without arrogance, and without presuppositions. And you showed, in the process, what the potential is of such work.

http://www.zmag.org/perceiving.htm``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xPerceiving the US Situation ``x1000789677,3412,Articles``x``x ``x( Bukka Rennie ) What a world! What could the perpetrators of last Tuesday's dastardly, devastating horror of the levelling of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, symbolic seats of American capitalism and military might, really hope to gain?

They hope that America will eternally be true to its history and its national psyche. They hope that America, just as was the case in the aftermath of Pearl Harbour, will bomb the Arab regions into smithereens, confiscate the properties of Arab-Americans and imprison them in concentration camps, that the American news media with all their famous anchor-personnel will work their people's emotions to the hilt and whip up a frenzy given their penchant for melodrama, that American people will vent their spleen on their Arab-American neighbours, beating them up and, with the help of the police force, kill Arab-Americans in the street, etc.

The strategy of the powerless against the powerful is always about crawling into the bowels and hair of the powerful to create and foster internal animosity and strife, to expose the powerful-stupid bully with the big stick who paints all and sundry with a broad brush and who, in so doing, creates greater multitudes of victims and more harm to his own interests. It is all about utilising time and space to gain will and build resolve. It is the war of the flea.

Only time will tell if America once again will prove to be true to its past. So far, there is not much coming from American leadership to suggest that they have woken up. They seem hell bent on continuing to police the world, to beat everyone into shape and to "get rid of the low-down dirty dogs". They still seem not to understand who and what they are up against.

The pet labels of "terrorists" and "cowardly-criminals" against "freedom", etc can no longer fit the bill. Such labels are merely escapist mechanisms geared to prevent people, all of us, from facing up to the responsibility of asking the real questions: who are these people and why have they concluded that only such ultimate, desperate acts done in the name of their God can get the world to pay heed to their realities and human condition?

Only human beings, precisely because of our sense of reason and intelligence that connects past, present and future, can plan and commit such acts. Animals possess no such capacity.

If you take the view that all the alleged enemies of America are "non-people", infinitely evil, without any "truths" of their own, and if the people in the Arab regions were to do likewise, seeing all US citizens as ungodly "ugly Americans", then the whole world will never progress beyond this point.

We need at this time, particularly after Tuesday's debacle, to recognise and pay homage to each other, even to the "fleas" and the "mole-crickets" of the earth. They are people too!

Globalisation means exactly that. No one must be excluded and marginalised. No longer is anyone innocent, we are all responsible for each other and the sustainability of each other's human presence. Everybody has to be empowered to function.

There can no longer be any one group or any one nation policing the whole world for the sake only of its particular and specific political-economic interests. That will no longer be tolerated. There can no longer be "power" without "morality".

The late James Baldwin, probably the author with the most insightful analyses of the American psyche, said the following in his treatise titled "No Name in the Street":

"...In the under-developed nations... the most dedicated of the natives are driven mad or inactive ­ or underground ­ by frustration; while the misery of the hapless, voiceless millions is increased ­ and not only that: their reaction to their misery is described to the world as criminal...

"Moreover as habits of thought reinforce and sustain the habits of power, it is not even remotely possible for the excluded to become included, for this inclusion means, precisely, the end of the status-quo.

"For power truly to feel itself menaced, it must somehow sense itself in the presence of another power ­ or, more accurately, an energy ­ which it has not known how to define and therefore does not really know how to control...

"For a very long time, for example, America prospered; ...this prosperity cost millions of people their lives... (America) cannot, or dare not, assess or imagine the price paid by their victims, or subjects, for (America's) way of life, and so they cannot afford to know why the victims are revolting. They (the Americans) are forced, then, to the conclusion that the victims ­ the barbarians ­ are revolting against all established civilised values...

"This is a formula for a nation's or a kingdom's decline, for no kingdom can maintain itself by force alone. Force does not work the ways its advocates seem to think it does. It does not, for example, reveal to the victim the strength of his adversary. On the contrary, it reveals the weakness, even the panic of his adversary, and this revelation invests the victim with patience.

"Furthermore, it is ultimately fatal to create too many victims... and as the honour roll of victims expands, so does their will become inexorable; they resolve that these dead, their brethren, will not have died in vain... (and) they realise, having endured everything, that they can endure everything..."

That was written back in 1969-1970. Baldwin is quite correct. What America faces today is not a "power" but an "energy", a morality that emerges out of decades of victimhood, a morality that emanates from the hopelessness of a particular human condition that have made certain people faceless and invisible, existing even today, in some instances as in Palestine, in caves and refugee tents, and who are quite conscious that their invisibility is their greatest strength, and that since they eke out existence out of nothing, can endure anything.

Will the big and the powerful-stupid ever learn? When General Giap told America that if they invaded Vietnam they will have to fight everyone from age nine to 99, McNamara, reputed to be of quite high IQ, laughed and suggested that no one running around all day in pajamas could defeat the greatest military power in the history of the world.
It is said that America dropped more bombs in Vietnam than the total dropped in both world wars and they were still defeated. American soldiers in Vietnam never saw who they were fighting until the evacuation of Saigon.

The logic of the typical powerful-stupid had been that if the Viet-Cong were hiding behind "trees" then they will remove the "trees". "Agent Orange" was the defoliant employed and the its carcinogenic effect is still today reeking havoc on veterans of that war.

We all must learn and learn fast, no matter how much our sensibilities are offended, the big-stick, broad brush powerful-stupid response is always counter-productive. Forget all the nonsense propaganda about people wanting to take away "America's freedom" and "destroy the civilised world", nothing could be further from the reality. America represents a benchmark in humanity's long march, and the point is that no one wants to be left out.

Gandhi was prophetic when he spoke words to the effect that: "The significance of nations should be measured not by their power and control over others but by their kindness and willingness to co-operate for mutual development."

That bigness of spirit is what is now essential, if not, we all may fly off the handle, engaging in prolonged, never-ending warfare, wondering, after each smooth, effective strike on either side, about whose God is more God. Then it's back to the stone-age days of crusades and infidels.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xWar of the flea``x1000812877,22180,Articles``x``x ``xAlafia Ndugu.

This so-called patriotism (which is really more arrogance than patriotism) will not last as long as we think it will. Sooner or later, Afrikan men in America will continue to be police profiled, Afrikan children in America will have their intellect questioned, Afrikan nations will continue to be destabilized for no clear reason other than greed.

It is straight hypocritical for this media to make it appear as if all is well here other than this tragic event. For those with either short memories or no inclination toward history, what happened to Afrikan people in this country AFTER the nation was rallied to 'defend democracy' in World War One??? What happened to Afrikan people in this country after the 'great nazi threat' was put down in World War Two???

Hypocrisy has NEVER been as blatant and at the same time as misleading as it has been in the last few days.

Am I being callious toward those families that may have lost loved ones in this 'mess'???

That would be up to those that read this. But i will never be drawn into some false sense of American patriotism and forget what has happened and continues to happen to certain groups of people in this nation.

And to think, there are capitalists out there making millions feeding people's so-called patriotism.

Interestingly, those whites that find themselves roaming streets with bats and sticks looking for some "foreigner" to exact vengeance upon are the very same ones that don't want to be lumped together with the sins of their slave-holding fore fathers and mothers.

I can hear them now: "I didn't have anything to do with slavery. Why should i pay???"

Tarikh Tehuti Bandele ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xPatriotism? Just White Nationalism ``x1000820264,45631,Members``x``x ``x( Sam Burnham ) It disturbs me to know that we are not carefull enough in what we say and know concerning the recent and indescriminant attaks by evil people in New York. Some of us seem to think this attack has created some positive outcomes...it has not. Some think America is the first Nation to rush to eveyone's aid... this is only true under very, very, very, selfish circumstances! Some are trying to rationalize the killing of innocent people and equate it to the struggle of black folk...black freedom fighters have nothing in common with these devils, neither would true freedom fighters of any ethnicity. Black people..Where are our priorities???

First of all, we all know Amerikkka has no love for us black folk and really don't care to much for other "minorities" either. However, we should NOT identify with the "Arab world" just because they have been oppressed! Keep in mind that the Eastern Slave trade was the Catalyst for the Transatlantic Slave trade. The Eastern slave trade, for those who don't know, involved "white" Arabs, "white Asians", and Caste System loving people from India who were...and are...no less racists and anti-black/African than European whites. As our brothers and sisters in Sudan and Mauratania fight against extinction and Arabanization from black sellouts and downright racist Arabs, we identify with people in "Palistine" who have yet to identify with our struggle collectively. Many people who are being oppressed now by Euoropeans were oppressing us prior to that time! where are our priorities. I'm sure I'll recieve the usual attacks and accusations of being "anti-Islamic" or "the Arabs were black" (actually the black original black folk in the Arabian Penensula were Sabeans...and never considered themselves Arabs), etc.

Some will even say that the modern Arab slave trade is a "Jewish Conspiracy" even though Chancellor Williams and Moctar Teyeb (A Pan-Africanst and ex-Mauratanian slave respectively)have been spreading the word in the 70's and 80's, none of them relying on info from "Jewish" folk! But that's not the point. Are we sincere in our struggle to be free, or just identifying with eveyone else? Just because others hate America and are willing to destroy US along with THEM (Euro-Americans), is this a reason to rationalize or justify the recent murder of innocent bystanders? I think not. Furthermore, many of these folk were black! should the murder of our black brothers and sisters be brushed off as "casualties of war"? No! A true warrior would not target civilians...these devils did! This was a massacar, not a war on America.

Second...yes...America helped create the anti-American sentiment that led to these attacks. However, a true freedom fighter would not sacrifice the lives of innocents just to kill a handfull of people who perhaps did deserve death. As far as the America helping everyone out thing, we ought to know "The Art of War", when we see it. The fact Euro-America sends more "aid" to nations and people who don't need it in one month than they do to "third world" nations and "relief efforts" in an entire year! Hhhhhmmmm!

We must remember that Euro-America is running the show here in America and will always put Euro-Americans, Europeans, and other whites above black folk whenever and where ever possible. Furthermore, most of the aid America "rushes" to give other nations, or domestics "in need' have constrictions designed to economically oppress, not help, the intended recipiants. In some areas, America covertly supports dictators and publicly "rush" to the aid of the dictator's vicitims. This is excellent for creating the false image of a "kinder gentler nation" that George Bush Sr talked about. Under this false image, America can destabalize nations, thus destabalizing their economies, thus compelling them to ask the U.S., IMF, World Bank, for aid.

Since America has a strong economic stake in the IMF and World Bank, this is an excellent form of covert ECONOMIC WARFARE on "third world" nations. Hhhmmm! Examples of this can be found in the "history" of El Salvador, Haiti, and...Afghanistan! The U.S. used the Taliban to push out the Russians in during the "cold war". Now their enemies. Hhhmmm! During the Iran-Contra Scandal, for example, the U.S. used Drug Money to help finance the Contra's in Nicaragua. This drug money was derived largely from black and Latino neigborhoods...with the full knowledge of high ranking members of the CIA, FBI, police departments, white businessmen in suits,etc. When the scandal began to unfold, America did not rush to our aid! They accused black folk of "being paranoid" or "blaming white Americans for eveything".

No, America rushes to help itself, while doing just enough for PR purposes! As far as American individuals giving Aid to others, we must realize that America is economically among the richest nations in the world. Thus those with humanity in their hearts will give what they can. Since America, Britian, France, etc economically oppress other nations and steal their wealth...it is NOT suprising why no one is "rushing" to help us...they collectively are not able!

Should we get those responsible for the recent events in New York. Of course! However, going to war against an entire country when we have the resources to find and destroy those responsible is immoral, politically motivated, and likely to start a U.S. verses Arab war. The escalation in terrorist attacks would soon follow. Therefore, we should understand why one person in congress was wise enough not to vote for war. She already voted for Bush's plan to "hunt down" the terrorist. If we truly want justice...not revenge...then we will only "war" against those responsible. Terrorist don't claim any nationalism to any country, so why should we make Any nation a scapegoat? Isreali Commando's ventured into various nations, even as far as Brazil, to "kidnap" Nazi war criminals and bring them to justice. This happened in the 50's and 60's via Isreali's that bought U.S. technology and training! Since they got it from America, there is no excuse why America can't use these same principals...which are much improve from
the 60's...to hunt down the devils responsible...without starting a war!

We need to be about keeping our issues as a top priority. Nothing good will come out of the recent attacks...especially for blacks. Now the U.S. government, supported by thousands of "grieving" whites, are trying to make racial profiling legal! We should not get caught up in the "patriotism", "pull together America" slogans, etc. Neither should we buy the fantasy world that eveyone oppressed by Euro-America is down with us. They are not.

We need to be about black people and their "need to know" what is affecting them and how.

peace ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xWhy Trust Arabs: Who clouds priorities ``x1000970579,5940,Members``x``x ``xBy BBC News Online's Helen Briggs

Stone tools dated to 1.36 million years ago provide the earliest evidence yet of human occupation of northeast Asia.

The tools, which were found at an ancient settlement in northern China, show that early humans were able to adapt to extremes of temperature relatively early in their history.

The crude implements were likely to have been made by early humans known as Homo erectus, a predecessor to our own species, Homo sapiens.

According to many scientists, Homo erectus was the first early human to move out of Africa to populate Asia and Europe.

The tools were found as far as 40 degrees north - at Xiaochangliang in the Nihewan Basin, north China.

This comes as a surprise because the area was thought to be inhospitable to early humans of the time, which were used to warmer climes. It suggests that early humans emerged from the tropics with an inbuilt ability to adapt to their environment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/
tech/newsid_1564000/1564421.stm``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xEarliest presence of humans in east Asia``x1001601064,41044,Development``x``x ``x( Bhekin ) I've been watching world events for the past two weeks and, obviously, what happened in America last week has dominated these events. One thing that I found particularly interesting is how this event, like all other similar events, has shaken peoples' identities. People who identified themselves as Americans started fearing what they called an "anti-Arab or anti-Muslim backlash", and in some cases they were proven right by the way things have unfolded. For example, the first people to be suspected (just like in the Oklahoma bombing) were Muslims/Arabs, both those in Arab countries and those who identified themselves as Americans, i.e. those in America. If these people really believe that they are American, why does fear come over them in events like this? If the American government accepts them as Americans, why does it start by blaming them before it finds out who really did it and why?

Blacks in America seem to be in the same situation, those who call themselves African-Americans are treated by other Americans the same as those who identify themselves as Africans in America (the same as other Black people are treated all over the world). Not to mention Hispanics, Red Indians, etc.

What is an American? Who decides?

In South Africa it is the same, most Black people identify themselves as the "rainbow nation" in the "new" South Africa, but President Thabo Mbeki at some stage admitted that there are two kinds of South Africans, those who are white and rich (the minority) and those who are Black and poor (the majority). And then there are also some who identify themselves as "Coloureds", but in the eyes of the "system" they are Blacks. Can Blacks in South Africa be called South Africans when they are treated by the system as foreigners in their own country? Should we be happy with the situation as it is or should these people identify themselves with other Blacks, i.e. those in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Congo, Burkina Faso, etc. If one identifies oneself as a South African, is one saying that Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Congo, Ivory Coast, etc. do not belong to him/her.

What is this thing called identity? Is there a worldwide identity crisis? If there is, how should it be solved?

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___________________________________________________________
``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xIs it an identity crisis?``x1001623615,51454,Members``x``x ``xRes. 101 (Nov 24, 53): Expressed 'strongest censure' of Israel for the first time because of its raid on Qibya.

Res. 106 (Mar 29, 55): Condemned Israel for Ghazzah raid.

Res. 111 (Jan 19, 56): Condemned Israel for raid on Syria that killed 56 people.

Res. 127 (Jan 22, 58): Recommended Israel to suspend its no-man's zone in Jerusalem.

Res. 162 (Apr 11, 61): Urged Israel to comply with UN decisions.

Res. 171 (Apr 9, 62): Determined 'flagrant violation' by Israel in its attack on Syria.

Res. 228 (Nov 25, 66): Censured Israel for its attack on Samu in Jordan.

Res. 237 (June 14, 67): Urged Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees.

Res. 248 (Mar 24, 68): Condemned Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan.Res. 250

(Apr 27, 68): Called on Israel to refrain from holding military parade in Jerusalem.

Res. 251 (May 2, 68): Deeply deplored Israel's military parade in Jerusalem and declared invalid
Israel's acts to unify Jerusalem as its capital.

Res. 256 (Aug 16, 68): Condemned Israeli raids on Jordan as 'flagrant violation'.

Res. 259 (Sep 27, 68): Deplored Israel's refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation.

Res. 262 (Dec 31, 68): Condemned Israel's attack on Beirut airport destroying the entire fleet of Middle East Airlines.

Res. 265 (Apr 1, 69): Condemned Israel for air attacks on Salt in Jordan.

Res. 267 (July 3, 69): Censured Israel for administrative acts to change status of Jerusalem.

Res. 270 (Aug. 26, 69): Condemned Israel for air attack on villages in southern Lebanon.

Res. 271 (Sep 15, 69): Condemned Israel's failure to comply with UN Resolutions on Jerusalem.

Res. 279 (May 12, 70): Demanded withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.

Res. 280 (May 19, 70): Condemned Israeli attacks against Lebanon.

Res. 285 (Sep 5, 70): Demanded immediate Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon.

Res. 298 (Sep 25, 71): Deplored Israel's change of status of Jerusalem.

Res. 313 (Aug 8, 72): Demanded Israel stop attacks against Lebanon.

Res. 316 (June 26, 72): Condemned Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon.

Res. 317 (July 21, 72): Deplored Israel's refusal to release Arabs abducted from Lebanon.

Res. 332 (Apr 21, 73): Condemned Israel's repeated attacks against Lebanon.

Res. 337 (Aug 15, 73): Condemned Israel for violating Lebanon's sovereignty.

Res. 347 (Apr 24, 74): Condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Res. 425 (Mar 19, 78): Called on Israel to withdraw its forces unconditionally from Lebanon.

Res. 427 (May 3, 78): Called on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon.

Res. 444 (Jan 19, 79): Deplored Israel's lack of cooperation with UN peace forces.

Res. 446 (Mar 22, 79): Determined Israeli settlements as a 'serious obstruction' to peace, and called on Israel to abide by the Geneva Conventions.

Res. 450 (June 14, 79): Called on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon.
Res. 452 (July 20, 79): Called on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories.

Res. 465 (Mar 1, 80): Deplored Israel's settlements and asked all member States not to assist Israel's settlement programme.

Res. 467 (Apr 24, 80): Condemned Israel's military intervention in Lebanon.

Res. 468 (May 8, 80): Called on Israel to Rescind illegal expulsion of two Palestinian Mayors and a Judge, and to facilitate their return.



The History of Palestine 1895 - 1992

1895 The total population of Palestine was 500,000 of whom 47,000 were Jews who owned 0.5% of the land.

1896 Following the appearance of anti-Semitism in Europe, Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism tried to find a political solution for the problem in his book, 'The Jewish State'.

He advocated the creation of a Jewish state in Argentina or Palestine.
1897 The first Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland, which issued the Basle programme on the colonisation of Palestine and the establishment of the World Zionist Organisation (WZO).

1904 Fourth Zionist Congress decided to establish a national home for Jews in Argentina.

1906 The Zionist congress decided the Jewish homeland should be Palestine.

1914 With the outbreak of World War I, Britain promised the independence of Arab lands under Ottoman rule, including Palestine, in return for Arab support against Turkey which had entered the war on the side of Germany.

1916 Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the Arab region into zones of influence. Lebanon and Syria were assigned to France, Jordan and Iraq to Britain and Palestine was to be internationalised.

1917 Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary sent a letter to the Zionist leader Lord Rothschild which later became known as "The Balfour declaration". He stated that Britain would use its best endeavours to facilitate the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. At that time the population of Palestine was 700,000 of which 574,000 were Muslims, 74,000 were Christian, and 56,000 were Jews.

1919 The Palestinians convened their first National Conference and expressed their opposition to the Balfour Declaration.

1920 The San Remo Conference granted Britain a mandate over Palestine and two years later Palestine was effectively under British administration, and Sir Herbert Samuel, a declared Zionist, was sent as Britain's first High Commissioner to Palestine.

1936 The Palestinians held a six-month General Strike to protest against the confiscation of land and Jewish immigration.

1939 The British government published a new White Paper restricting Jewish immigration and offering independence for Palestine within ten years. This was rejected by the Zionists, who then organised terrorist groups and launched a bloody campaign against the British and the Palestinians. The aim was to drive them both out of Palestine and to pave the way for the establishment of the Zionist state.

1947 The United Nations approved the partition under which the Palestinian Arabs, who accounted for 70% of the population and owned 92% of the land, were allocated 47% of the country.

1948 British forces withdrew from Palestine in May and the Zionists proclaimed the state of Israel without defining its borders. Arab armies moved to defend the Palestinians.

1949 A cease fire was finally agreed. The Zionists controlled 77% of Palestinian land and over 1 million Palestinians were forced to leave their country. The West Bank was put under Jordanian control and the Gaza Strip under Egyptian control.

1964 The Palestine Liberation Organisation was established.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xUN Security Council Resolutions on Israel since 1948``x1001722447,66884,Articles``x``x ``xA July 11 editorial in The Boston Globe entitled "Mbeki's Blinders on AIDS" tells us that the "tragedy of President Thako Mbeki's speech Sunday is that it reinforces a culture of denial and confusion in South Africa." The real tragedy, which such commentaries exemplify, is an American culture of blame--blame attributed to Africans and a South African government that the editorial immodestly claims "is unwilling to make HIV prevention a national crusade."

By decrying Mbeki's government in such fashion, the Globe, like many other American press agencies who have commented on Mbeki's speech, has manufactured an enemy of Western beliefs whose opinions are nothing short of the ravings of said "cultures of denial." But are his words and those of his colleagues really just products of denial and confusion?

Mbeki's Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, has said, "It is inappropriate to blame everything around this epidemic on the HIV virus...clearly, the relationship between HIV and other social ills afflicting our society such as poverty and disease is complex." Mbeki himself, in his opening speech at the Durban AIDS conference, reiterated this central argument: alleviating poverty and social inequalities will play a pivotal role in conquering the African AIDS crisis.

Should poverty really be a priority in conquering African AIDS? Despite damning evidence, showcased both in the scientific literature and in the popular press, the Globe's editors say "no". "Mbeki ignores the reality [emphasis ours] that AIDS exists independent of economic circumstances," they claim. As evidence, they cite American gay men, "as affluent as the rest of US society in the 1980s, when the virus raced through their ranks." The editors credit positive outcomes among this population to the "effective
public health campaign" gay American men conducted in response to the AIDS threat.

But the firm and simple "reality" that AIDS prevalence is unrelated to economics is no reality at all. Recent CDC reports indicate that HIV incidence rates are growing fastest among poor young black and poor American women. Poverty has, in fact, been established as a key determinant for both HIV infection and the subsequent acquisition of AIDS. MORE
_________________________________________________

The ten thousand strong AIDS 'community" had been outraged by earlier comments attributed to the Head of State now hosting the first world AIDS meeting ever held in a non western country. Was Mbeki with them or against them? It was a question that grew out of a simmering controversy that began month earlier when the South African President spent a few nights conducting personal research on the Internet. It led him to the views of a handful of dissident doctors and researchers who had been challenging the conventional scientific wisdom about the origins of the AIDS virus for years.

He quickly began wondering aloud if South Africa's AIDS fighting program was on the right track. Staring down the barrel of drug costs that could bankrupt his treasury and plans for economic development, he provoked a debate about the proper strategies to pursue that is still reverberating globally.

Critics quickly elevated his stance into a heresy after he invited some of those dissidents to take part in a presidential advisory panel (which also included many mainstream researcher.) The 30 member group was charged with investigating some critical issues, including the accuracy of Aids tests, the safety of certain highly toxic anti-viral drugs like AZT which has been relatively effective in blocking transmission of the disease from mother to child, and the charged issue of what causes AIDS. Does HIV lead to Aids, as most scientists insist, or are there other causes and contributing factors? It will make its report at the end of the year.

Mbeki never openly denied an HIV-Aids link but his aggressively inquiring attitude appeared to many as if he that's what he was doing. Such questioning was viewed as a distratcion, evidence that he was in denial about an infection that the UN says is present in ten percent of the country's population, or some 4.2 million people, more than in any other comparable country.

For daring to challenge the consensus, Mbeki fell, in the words of a high level White House AIDs official I spoke with, "off the program." Soon he turned into a pariah and subject for ridicule in the world press, trashed by 60 Minutes in the US and criticized by one of South Africa's leading intellectuals Dr. Mamphela Ramphele for "irresponsibility bordering on criminality."

5000 researchers and scientists world-wide issued a "Durban Declaration" to rebuke him, insisting that that HIV causes Aids, full stop. End of story. His defensive press secretary dismissed their statement as fit for the "dustbin." Local political pressure was then brought to bear on those behind the declaration to cancel a planned press conference that could turn embarrassing. Feelings polarized. Over coffee in my hotel, an HIV positive ACT UP militant from Brooklyn New York snarled, "Mbeki should be impeached and arrested." MORE``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAids: Misunderstanding Mbeki``x1001760898,77054,Articles``x``x ``xCUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO:
"THE TRAGEDY SHOULD NOT BE USED TO RECKLESSLY START A WAR"

No one can deny that terrorism is today a dangerous and ethically indefensible phenomenon, which should be eradicated regardless of its deep origins, the economic and political factors that brought it to live, and those responsible for it.

The unanimous irritation caused by the human and psychological damage brought on the American people by the unexpected and shocking death of thousands of innocent people whose images have shaken the world is perfectly understandable. But who have profited? The extreme right,
the most backward and right-wing forces, those in favor of crushing the growing world rebellion and sweeping away everything progressive that is still left on the planet. It was an enormous error, a huge injustice and a great crime, whoever organized or are responsible for such action.

However, the tragedy should not be used to recklessly start a war that could actually unleash an endless carnage of innocent people, all under the peculiar and bizarre name of "Infinite Justice."

In the last few days we have seen the hasty establishment of the basis, the concept, the true purposes, the spirit and the conditions for such a war. No one would be able to affirm that it was not something thought out well in advance, something that was just waiting for its chance to materialize. Those who, after the so-called end of the Cold War, continued a military build-up and the development of
the most sophisticated means to kill and exterminate human beings were aware that their large military investments would give them the privilege to impose an absolute and complete dominance over the other peoples of the world. The ideologists of the imperialist system knew very well what they were doing and why they were doing it.

After the shock and sincere sorrow felt by every people on Earth for the atrocious and insane terrorist attack that targeted the American people, the most extremist ideologists and the most belligerent hawks, already established in privileged power positions, have taken command of the most powerful country in the world, whose military and technological capabilities would seem infinite. Actually, its capacity to destroy and kill is enormous, while its inclination towards equanimity, serenity, thoughtfulness and restraint is minimal.

The combination of elements--including complicity and the common enjoyment of privileges--the prevailing opportunism, confusion and panic make it almost impossible to avoid a bloody and unpredictable outcome.e.

The first victims of whatever military actions are undertaken will be the billions of people living in the poor and underdeveloped world, with their unbelievable economic and social problems, their unpayable debts and the ruinous prices of their basic commodities; their growing natural and ecological catastrophes, their hunger and misery, the
massive undernourishment of their children, teenagers and adults, their terrible AIDS epidemic, their malaria, their tuberculosis and their infectious diseases that threaten whole nations with extermination.

The grave economic world crisis was already a real and irrefutable fact affecting absolutely every one of the big economic power centers. Such crisis will inevitably grow deeper under the new circumstances, and when it becomes unbearable for the overwhelming majority of the peoples, it will bring chaos, rebellion and the impossibility to govern.

But the price will also be unpayable for the rich countries. For years to come it would be impossible to speak strongly enough about the environment and ecology, or about ideas and research done and tested, or about projects for the protection of nature--because that space and possibility would be taken by military actions, war and crimes as infinite as "Infinite Justice," that is, the name given to the war operation to be unleashed..

Can there be any hope left after having listened, hardly 36 hours ago, to the speech made by the president before the U.S. Congress?

I will avoid the use of adjectives, qualifiers or offensive words towards the author of that speech. They would be absolutely unnecessary and untimely when the tensions and seriousness of the moment advise thoughtfulness and equanimity. I will limit myself to underline some short phrases that say it all:

"We will use every necessary weapon of war."

"Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen."

"Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."

"I've called the armed forces to alert and there is a reason. The hour is coming when America will act and you will make us proud."

"This is the world's fight, this is civilization's fight."

"I ask for your patience [...] in what will be a long struggle."

"The great achievement of our time and the great hope of every time, now depend on us."

"The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. [...] And we know that God is not neutral."

I ask our fellow countrymen to meditate deeply and calmly on the ideas contained in several of the above-mentioned
phrases:

Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.

No nation of the world has been left out of the dilemma, not even the big and powerful states; none has escaped the threat of war or attacks.

We will use any weapon.

No procedure has been excluded, regardless of ethics, or any threat, however fatal--either nuclear, chemical, biological or any other..

It will not be short combat but a lengthy war, lasting many years, unparalleled in history.

It is the world's fight; it is civilization's fight.

The achievements of our times and the hope of every time, now depend on us.

Finally, an unheard of confession in a political speech on the eve of a war, and no less than in times of apocalyptic risks:

The course of this conflict is not known; yet its outcome is certain. And we know that God is not neutral.

This is an amazing assertion. When I think about the real or imagined parties involved in that bizarre holy war that is about to begin, I find it difficult to make a distinction about where fanaticism is stronger.

On Thursday, before the United States Congress, the idea was sketched out of a world military dictatorship under the exclusive rule of force, irrespective of any international laws or institutions. The United Nations Organization, simply ignored in the present crisis, would fail to have any authority or prerogative whatsoever. There would be only one boss, only one judge, and only one law.

We have all been ordered to ally either with the United States government or with terrorism.

Cuba, the country that has suffered the most and the longest from terrorist actions, the one whose people are not afraid of anything because there is no threat or power in the world that can intimidate it--with a high morale, Cuba claims that it is opposed to terrorism and opposed to war. Although the possibilities are now remote, Cuba reaffirms the need to avert a war of unpredictable consequences whose very authors have admitted not having the least idea of how the events
will unfold. Likewise, Cuba reiterates its willingness to cooperate with every country in the total eradication of terrorism..

An objective and calm friend should advise the United States government against throwing young American soldiers into an uncertain war in remote, isolated and inaccessible places, like a fight against ghosts, not knowing where they are or even if they exist or not, or whether the people they kill are or are not responsible for the death of their innocent fellow countrymen killed in the United States.

Cuba will never declare itself an enemy of the American people, who are today subjected to an unprecedented campaign to sow hatred and a vengeful spirit, so much so that even the music that sings of peace has been banned. On the contrary, Cuba will make that music its own, and even our children will sing their songs to peace while the announced bloody war lasts.

Whatever happens, the territory of Cuba will never be used for terrorist actions against the American people and we will do everything within our reach to prevent such actions against that people. Today we are expressing our solidarity while urging to peace and calmness. One day they will admit we were right.

We will defend our independence, our principles and our social achievements with honor to the last drop of blood if we are attacked!

It will not be easy to fabricate pretexts to do it. They are already talking about a war using all the necessary weapons, but it will be good to recall that not even that would be a new experience. Almost four decades ago, hundreds of strategic and tactical nuclear weapons were aimed at Cuba and nobody remembers any one in our country sleepless over that.

We are the same sons and daughters of that heroic people, with a patriotic and revolutionary conscience that is higher than ever. It is time for serenity and courage.

The world will grow aware of this and will raise its voice in the face of the terrible threatening drama that it is about to suffer.

As for Cubans, this is the right time to proclaim more proudly and resolutely than ever:

Socialism or death!

Homeland or death!

We shall overcome!

- END -

(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://www.workers.org)``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xSpeech given by Cuban President Fidel Castro on Sept. 22``x1001864474,1852,Articles``x``x ``xBy Bukka Rennie
October 01, 2001

Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere, paid reparations to France to the tune of 150 million in "gold francs". Imagine paying reparations for having won your independence in one of the bloodiest episodes in modern history. The oppressed compensating the oppressor for their freedom.

That was a shock to many in the audience at the recently-held CLR James conference who may not have been so informed previously.

Haiti is what it is today because of the numerous compounded negative effects it faced, such as the deliberate political and economic non-recognition by all the then major nations of the world, coupled, of course, with the geometric effect of having to pay such severe reparations.

That is a historic fact. But why the surprise? The white planters in the English-speaking Caribbean were the ones compensated to the tune of some £200 million for the loss of slave labour. The ex-slaves got nothing. Similarly, the rice and cotton planters of the southern states of America were likewise compensated after slavery was abolished.

The Euro-centrics have always sought reparation and compensation for their "kith and kin" wherever they may be and whatever may have been the disaster suffered. Similarity of treatment to those of us who are not of their kith and kin has never been their agenda.

The First Peoples of the Americas, the so-called Red Indians, culturally were of an entirely different view of the world to that of the British and Europeans with whom they clashed. The First Peoples had no concept of private ownership of the physical and natural environment.

"How can you own the rivers and the trees and the animals around? Can you own the air we breathe and all these things so necessary for living?"

Questions to that effect were posed by Chief Seattle and Chief Crazy Horse. And they were not afraid to die for their cause. They lost eventually and paid the ultimate price. Genocide and disappearance of their civilisation.

Reparations in any form to the minority groups of them still existing have never been considered. What is fundamental though is that they exist in an environment today in which there are mechanisms for sustainable development.

The people of Haiti were also not afraid to die, they embraced the modern concepts of "liberty, fraternity and equality" and fought the French Europeans to establish these principles. They won and yet they were made to pay and are still paying in different ways as they work out the essential mechanisms.

The USA's role in all of this is documented history even as she grew up and matured as a country projected as the bastion of freedom and democracy. But how could such a country at this time, in today's world, have the audacity to walk out of the Durban Conference on the question of reparations for the descendants of slavery that existed on their shores for well over 300 years? The simple answer is that black people are not considered their "kith and kin".

The point being made in the two previous columns is that America needs to review its foreign policies and its positions in relation to the rest of the world. And not only because of the events of October 11 when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked. The necessity existed all along.

Real enlightened, visionary leadership would have seen to that since the '60s when for the first time every aspect and facet of world civilisation, Eastern as well as Western, was put to question by conscious youth and progressive working-class forces everywhere.

In many instances, it was the skewed tenets of American foreign policy that served, inadvertently or not, to prop up all kinds of crazy, backward regimes such as that of fundamentalist "mullahs" with their anachronistic feudal political structures reminiscent of the Middle Ages, or even that of modern brutal dictatorships as existed in Chile and Panama and the Philippines.

What is ironic is that some of these very backward regimes would in the long run turn against America and foster popular hostilities against her when it seemed to be in their narrow economic interests to do so, eg the Taliban and Iraqi regimes.

While all this is happening the masses of people therein are deliberately kept hungry and trapped in some twilight time zone mouthing and screaming emotional epithets, and at the same time their progressive strata are effectively isolated and quietly but brutally liquidated.

Look, we have been saying over and over that America has a particular responsibility. Precisely because she is now the only super-power and that power must be exercised and be wielded with a firm sense of morality. The "person" or "nation" placed for whatever reason on a pedestal has to bear the greatest moral burden before the rest of the world.

Borges, the Argentine writer, claims that America is a country that has assigned to herself the name of an entire continent. If such is the case, is she to look or to continue to look upon the rest of the continent as her personal "backyard"?

We said in the column "War of the flea", that America "represents a benchmark in humanity's long march and the point is that no one wants to be left out..." A "benchmark" is a stage that measures or denotes significant and fundamental accomplishment and achievement.

America is the country that has taken the present prevalent mode of production, distribution and consumption to its highest levels. She manages and controls the global market and she is the one that profits the most from globalisation. It is a mode that warrants all the basic freedoms, including the freedom of choice and the right to the pursuit of knowledge and happiness.

In relative terms it is the mode of production that has extended the democratic process the furthest. All the known modes of the past, eg tribalism, communalism, feudalism, slavery, early capitalism and all its degenerate totalitarian variants, ie state capitalism/socialism, fascism, etc, have to one extent or another been hindrances to the democratic processes and been major blots on humanity's long march towards universal freedom.

America, just as she has assigned the name of a whole continent to herself, has likewise assigned to herself and her system, "Democracy" (with a capital "D"), as if to suggest that she is equivalent to the be-all and end-all of humanity's quest for complete fulfilment.

Nothing is further from the truth. Yet she is today a benchmark of modernity and what is supposed to accompany that is a moral burden and a moral responsibility; mess that up and the hostility towards America will intensify. Just as happens when any big chief anywhere betrays the moral trust.

There is this standing joke in our favoured "watering hole" in Tunapuna: Put two airplanes on the tarmac in any underdeveloped country in the world and say that one is bound for "America" and the other to anywhere else and see which of the two airplanes would be filled to capacity.

No one wants, nor is it possible, to destroy this benchmark of humanity's collective travail. All and sundry want to be part of it though on mutually beneficial terms and all wish to be respected for whatever unique particularity they may bring to the common agenda.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xMe big chief ``x1001941151,18862,Articles``x``x ``x( Akinkawon ) ABSTRACT: Gandhi7495
SUMMARY: To understand Gandhi's role towards the blacks, one requires a knowledge of Hinduism. Within the constraints, a few words on Hinduism will suffice: The caste is the bedrock of Hinduism. The Hindu term for caste is varna; which means arranging the society on a four-level hierarchy based on the skin color: The darker-skinned relegated to the lowest level, the lighter-skinned to the top three levels of the apartheid scale called the Caste System. The race factor underlies the intricate workings of Hinduism, not to mention the countless evil practices embedded within. Have no doubt, Gandhi loved the Caste system.

Gandhi lived in South Africa for roughly twenty one years from 1893 to 1914. In 1906, he joined the military with a rank of Sergeant-Major and actively participated in the war against the blacks. Gandhi's racist ideas are also evident in his writings of these periods. One should ask a question : Were our American Black leaders including Dr. King aware of Gandhi's anti-black activities? Painfully, we have researched the literature and the answer is, no. For this lapse, the blame lies on the Afro-American newspapers which portrayed Gandhi in ever glowing terms, setting the stage for African-American leaders Howard Thurman, Sue Baily Thurman, Reverend Edward Carroll, Benjamin E. Mays, Channing H. Tobias, and William Stuart Nelson to visit India at different time periods to meet Gandhi in person. None of these leaders had any deeper understanding of Hinduism, British India, or the complexities of Gandhi's convoluted multi-layered Hindu mind. Frankly speaking, these leaders were no match to Gandhi's deceit; Gandhi hoodwinked them all, and that too, with great ease. Understanding of Hindu India with our black leaders never really improved even considering years later in March 1959, much after Gandhi's death, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his wife, and Professor Lawrence D. Reddick visited India and to our way of analysis, they fared no better than their predecessors. We are certain, had Dr. King known Gandhi's anti-black and other criminal activities, he would have distanced his civil-rights movement away from the name of Gandhi. full article...
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( RootsWomb(man) ) Peace,

Give thanks for this article. Thought I'd forward some more information on the MYTH of Ghandi from "The Global African Presence" site by Ranuko Rashidi: http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/gandhi.html
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( Mica ) He may have been racist but the message of passive resistance does not change. As long as he was not oppressing blacks I'm fine with him. its not like people knew him for his equal rights ideas, people liked him for his anti-violence ideas. Marcus Garvey did not believe Selassie was Jah, but that's no reason to not like him...
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( Steve ) That is a ridiculously mentally lazy response. If you took you time to learn history you may realize that Ghandi’s was disrespectful and oppressive to all Black and African people.
If you separate parts of his words from his conduct and ended up with your comment, you are a supporter of hypocrisy. A hypocrite is not a role model.

Incidentally Garvey was trying to get Africans to move from mental dependency and he was quite right to deny Selassie was Jah if Jah means the perfect spirit. Salassie surely was not perfect in thoughts and actions.
________________________________________________________

( Akinkawon ) Rather harsh but very correct comment in my view. You would not become popular with that.

I suspect the problem is the same lack of historical perspective where people do not evaluate for themselves. But how can they if they do not have a good idea of what is the self.
________________________________________________________

( IanI ) Sincerest Greetings Bredren an Sistren

IanI Rastafari as a POSITIVE One allways look to see the Truth. I also do the best me can to be overstanding and generous. Seen.

No One has absolute perfection and all are subject to the conditions into which they have been born. For some there be the ability to transend those conditions, for others there is no such a thing. I shall allways be generous to them that seek that transendance, even if them fail. This is generosity.

Mr. Gandhi:
"I am conscious of my own limitations. That consciousness is my only strength. Whatever I might have been able to do in my life has proceeded more than anything else out of my own limitations."

"Life is governed by a multitude of forces. It would be smooth sailing, if one could determine the course of one's actions only by one general principle whose application at a given moment was too obvious to need a moments reflection. But I cannot recall a single act which could be so easily determined."

"My position regarding the government is TOTALLY different today and hence I should not voluntarily participate in its wars and I should risk imprisonment and even the gallows if I were FORCED to take up arms or otherwise participate in its military operations."

"Language at best is but a poor vehicle for expressing one's thoughts in full. I know I fail often... it is a matter not of the intellect but of the Heart. True guidance comes by the constant waiting upon God, by utmost humility. It's practice requires fearlessness and courage of the Highest order. I am PAIN-FULLY aware of my failings."

"I know that war is wrong, is an unmitigated evil. I know too that it has got to go. I firmly believe that freedom won through bloodshed or fraud is no freedom."

"The more I reflect and look back on the past, the more vividly do I feel my limitations."

" I have gone through deep self-introspection, searched myself through and through, and examined and analysed every psychological situation. Yet I am far from claiming any finality or infallibility."

"There is no such thing as 'Gandhism' and I do not want to leave any sect after me. I do not claim to have originated any new principle or doctrine. I have simply TRIED in my own way to apply the eternal Truths to our daily life and problems. I have nothing new to teach the world. I have sometimes erred and learnt by my errors. There is no 'ism' about it."

"My imperfections and my failures are as much a blessing from God as my success and my talents, and I lay them both at His feet."

One can allways search anothers Life and find errors and failings. One can allways find them worst transgressions and build upon them. It is a great accomplishment when One can see them own and try to fix them, successfully or failingly. Life be a journey and experience brings Wisdom to them that seek it. Some achieve greater Wisdom than others. Some achieve Wisdom in one area of Life and not in another. Some do evil in the younger days of them Life and come to Realization when older and work to change them ways... others do not.

IanI Rastafari will allways seek the POSITIVE view and hope for an expansion of the consciousness of LOVE. Mr. Gandhi's racism may well have been what drove him to his continued striving for a more perfect world. His realizations of his failings gave him reason and direction to attempt a change, however erred those changes may be, or simply seem to others. It is those that DENY them own weaknesses and faults, and continue in arrogance that inevitably destroy and 'conquer' those they see as 'less than' them own selves. When IanI do not strive to reason and realize the ways for which humanity goes astray, to overstand the people and work towards solving the problems of society, with generosity and patience... there is war. A situation many find themselves in at this very moment. War. Violence. And not overstanding and guidance.

Racism is a scourge that has been pounded into the minds of the innocent for long, long ages now. IanI see a light beginning to SHINE. It is to that Light that IanI will forward. Continuing in the supreme effort to free the minds of the racists from them horrific brainwashment so that IanI People may live Free and unafraid.

Praises unto the Almighty Most High
Give Thanks.
IanI Rastafari
Guidance and Protection
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( Akinkawon ) I posted that article because many people speak as if Gandhi was the highest moral example and quite clearly he was not.

I feel assured that many people do not take the time to study the lives of people whom they consider heroes and in so doing they fail to grasp the shortcomings in the personalities. There is a popular misconception that people should not examine the shortcomings of popular personalities and this is the reason they fail to rise above them.

Gandhi was not only low in understanding, but he said nothing that was original. He went to school, a right most others did not have and he would have grasped some of the more eloquent concepts in history, but the pacifist attitude that he is used to symbolize is part of the problem.

Whenever poor people are aggrieved, the media suddenly focuses on Gandhi and Martin Luther King as symbols of poor struggle. What they are trying to crystallize in the minds of the aggrieved is that they must remain non-violent while the aggressors, usually the Leaders in the society uses violence against them.

For those who understand African American struggles, there would have been no hero named Martin Luther King without the radical actions of the Black Panthers. Very often this is not appreciated. While I myself do not support using violence to address issues, I implore people to know the difference between self-defense on a human level and poorly contrived acts of aggression.

For what Gandhi symbolized and achieved during his time he should be thrown into the dustbin of history, as he offered no insightful means to end oppression and violence in India and anywhere else. His disrespect and ignorance of Africans kept him from understanding the Caste system in India and intelligently intervening to offer equity to all people.
Can people learn from him? Yes, only when they examine the entire history of Gandhi, clearly see his shortcomings and by not repeating them.

I know many people may be angered by my comments and they are entitled to their anger but my comments will stand the test of history and time.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xUnderstanding Gandhi``x1002131393,13989,Rasta``x``x ``xABSTRACT BBC: - Ethnic Berbers have rebuffed a series of concessions offered by the Algerian Government, including recognition of their language, and have vowed to press ahead with a mass rally.

Berber leaders from the Kabylie region say the offer falls short of their demands, and that the government is trying to engineer a split in their long-running campaign for official recognition and justice.

President Abdelaiz Bouteflika, who has portrayed the concessions as ground-breaking, hoped the offer would persuade the community to call off their demonstration on Friday.

Previous demonstrations of this kind have attracted hundreds of thousands of people. In June a protest which included many non-Berbers degenerated into rioting.

The Berbers' dissatisfaction with the offer is reportedly based on the exact wording of the text.

They want their language - Tamazight - to be classified as an official language of the state, giving it equal status with the majority language of Arabic.

But they say the government is offering to make amendments to the constitution which would merely recognize the Berber language as a national language of Algeria.

The Berbers are also suspicious about the wording of additional government offers over legal procedures against police suspected of killing Berber civilians.

Algerian paramilitary police are accused of shooting dead some 60 Berbers during the recent unrest.

An official inquiry has already judged that the deaths were a result of police over-reaction to peaceful protests.

Concessions to the Berbers have been strongly opposed by powerful circles in the majority Arab community, in particular the military, as well as by the Islamist movement.

Since independence from France in 1962, the majority Arab community has maintained that Arabic must be the sole language to be recognised by the state.

That has always been regarded as an affront by the Berbers, who claim to represent over a quarter of the population and say their culture and language are distinct.


These people call themselves Amazigh. "Berber is a name that has been given them by others and which they themselves do not use. Amazigh history in North Africa is extensive and diverse. Their ancient ancestors settled in the area just inland of the Medeterranean Sea to the east of Egypt. Many early Roman, Greek, and Phoenician colonial accounts mention a group of people collectively known as Berbers living in northern Africa. In actuality, Berber is a generic name given to numerous heterogeneous ethnic groups that share similar cultural, political, and economic practices. Over the last several hundred years many Berber peoples have converted to Islam.

Contrary to popular romanticism which portrays Amazigh as nomadic peoples crossing the desert on camels, most actually practice sedentary agriculture in the mountains and valleys throughout northern Africa. Some do, in fact, engage in trade throughout the region, and such practices certainly had a tremendous influence on the history of the African continent. Trade routes established from western Africa to the Mediterranean connected the peoples of southern Europe with much of sub-Saharan Africa thousands of years ago. There are basically five trade routes which extend across the Sahara from the northern Mediterranean coast of Africa to the great cities, which are situated on the southern edge of the Sahara. Berber merchants were responsible for bringing goods from these cities to the north. From there they were distributed throughout the world.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Berber.html``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAlgeria: Ethnic Berbers have rebuffed concessions``x1002231728,90609,Members``x``x ``xBy Dudley Thompson

First of all, I want to thank the students and those who are responsible for giving me the chance to participate in these "streets of intellect." Listening to George Lamming alone is worth the trip. I hope you will agree with me on that.

I will begin with a quotation that could have come from Walter Rodney himself. Actually it is a quotation from George Lamming. It goes like this:

There is a perennial debt to be paid to black people for continuing of enslavement and degradation. There are those who believe that the matter is over. They are completely wrong. Actually, there are those among us who believe that the demand and struggle for justice and restoration to full dignity would take a generation to win a crusade for reparations. In unison under concerted strategy....

There are other words of inspiration along the same lines, for instance Kwame Nkrumah has said: "We can no longer afford the luxury of delay"; and as I have stated elsewhere, "The debt has not been paid; the accounts have not been settled." MORE``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe debt has not been paid, the accounts have not been settled``x1002522617,69580,Members``x``x ``xBy Michael Delblond

This year is the centennial of the birth of our own C L R James and just as when he moved on "beyond the boundary", we can brace ourselves from a virtual deluge of encomiums from solicited as well as unsolicited sources of varying degrees of distinction and/or authority. It is also in the nature of things that some "glowing tributes" could well be thinly disguised, self-serving efforts to extract political mileage and attempt to glow in CLR's posthumous reflected glory.
Nevertheless, there are cogent reasons why we should wish to properly pay our national respects to one of our more gifted sons and perpetuate his memory in an appropriate way. That is not to say that James was either flawless or without his own "feet of clay".

CLR James is generally seen as a "self-made intellectual" who apparently turned his nose up at preparing himself for a free university education and refused to direct his efforts to winning the much-sought-after Island Scholarship which students of humble means saw as the "Open Sesame" to "fame and fortune" and the only alternative to some dead-end occupation which could have constituted the "graveyard of ambition".

I don't think people today are even dimly aware of the virtual absence of opportunities in days gone by for the bright young boy or girl, from the humbler walks of life, who aspired to a professional career in keeping with his/her intellectual potential.
In this respect, I call to mind Thomas Gray's lines:
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

I also ask myself, in respect of young CLR, "What could have been operating in the mind of this lad who at the tender age of nine or ten was reading — with much interest, one might add — the British Classics and was the youngest boy to win an "exhibition" (a scholarship to QRC) from an intensively competitive field?" It might be worth mentioning here that CLR's father was a primary school headmaster (a position, which in those days and for a black man, was an indication of great diligence, ambition and intelligence). CLR's mother was also a voracious reader of quality literature.

It therefore cannot be said that James lacked a nurturing environment or the stimuli for success and academic achievement.

By his own admission, Mr James had a consuming passion for cricket. He also saw Pan-Africanism as a self-appointed mission and had a vision of world revolutionary politics. He was a self-avowed Marxist. More specifically, he was a Trotskyite. Although he expressed misgivings about the presumed role of Blacks within the movement. James appeared to be his own man, with his own mind, and he wasn't susceptible to being pigeonholed. The idea that he was simply "a communist" and ipso facto "a dangerous subversive character" may well have been a political oversimplification.

In understanding CLR one has to examine his attitude to fame and fortune. He seemed, from all accounts I've heard, quite indifferent to the security that fortune brings. This may well have been at the back of a certain writer's mind who apparently sneered at one of CLR's return to the country of his birth as, "his being washed up on our shores," — a gratuitous insult, I thought at the time.
The only items that I can figure out being washed up on any shores are the flotsam and jetsam of some wreckage at sea. Perhaps, having been bitten by the "political bug" James never became the prolific novelist that he might have been, with a comfortable livelihood ensured by the exercise of his craft.

One can perhaps surmise that young CLR was, initially, instinctively persuaded that a university education might just have got in the way of his real education and stultify his intellectual development or he had grasped the point that "education" and "qualification" were not necessarily synonymous with "formal accreditation." In today's world university professors are virtually "a dime a dozen" and one can think of cases where a dozen aren't worth a dime.

CLR (as he is popularly known) went on to create an international reputation for himself, to the point that he was once described by the “TIMES” of London as "... the black Plato of our generation and one of the most versatile intellectuals." In an obituary, the prestigious London newspaper, "THE INDEPENDENT" hailed James as probably the most versatile and accomplished Afro-American intellectual of the 20th Century."

Although there has been and, I imagine, will continue to be an unofficial competition to dredge "superlatives" to capture the quintessential character of the multifaceted talent of this extraordinary man, the comment that I found most apt was that of an E P Thompson which went like this: "It is not a question of whether one agrees with everything he (James) has said or done; but everything has had the mark of originality, of his own flexible and deeply cultured intelligence ... the intelligence has always been matched by a warm and outgoing personality." There was every reason to believe that Mr James was well-respected and highly regarded abroad and I rather suspect that it must have been a sore point with him that he had not been accorded the recognition and courtesies, at home, commensurate with his international stature.

He was subsequently awarded the Trinity Cross and an honorary UWI Doctorate. The government of the day committed itself to underwriting all expenses for his return from England and his medical and other needs. He was then, however, too weak to travel and died soon after. His mortal remains lie buried in Tunapuna from which he hails. His self-imposed exile and bitter quarrel with PM Dr Eric Williams will be the subject of a future article.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xCLR — Black Plato of our time``x1002722691,36943,Articles``x``x ``xBy John Maxwell

IT'S been more or less official -- as official as science ever gets: the family of man is African. Even the most die-hard supporters of the theory that modern human populations arose spontaneously in several different regions of the world have abandoned that theology. The so-called "Multi-regional" theory was used to justify theories of "racial" differences and racial superiority.

The Multi-regionalists were dealt a fatal blow by a study, the results of which were published earlier this year in the magazine Science. A team of geneticists took gene samples from 12,127 men in Asia and Oceania. They examined characteristic DNA "markers" sequences of genetic code, from the Y (male chromosomes) of these modern men, Australians, Chinese, Polynesians, Japanese et al, and discovered that every one of them had a characteristic sequence which could be traced back to African ancestors who lived between 35,000 and 89,000 years ago. The latest research complemented and bolstered an earlier, smaller study, published in the January issue of the Annals of Human Genetics which also pointed to a recent African origin for the Y chromosome in men from Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas.

Stanford University molecular biologist Peter Underhill and colleagues analysed 218 markers in 1,062 men from 21 populations in those regions. "They saw the greatest diversity in two distinct and long-separated clusters of Y chromosomes in African men. In contrast, they found that all men outside Africa share the same mutation, called M168, which arose in an African ancestor between 35,000 and 89,000 years ago."

This means that African populations are more genetically diverse than people outside of Africa, suggesting, subversively, that some Africans may be more genetically advanced than everybody else.

The latest studies should put an end to the pseudo-scientific energies which have been expended over five hundred years to prove the superiority of one set of people to another. There is, as far as anyone knows, just one human race.

Racial profiling

In the wake of the WTC/Pentagon atrocity, blacks in the United States have felt a general easing of pressure. The congenital dread felt by most has been replaced, it seems, by a consciousness that now that Middle Eastern people are all "suspect," they provide new targets for the old game of pinning the tail on the donkey. Blacks, even more than whites, are now reportedly in favour of racial profiling to determine who is or is not likely to be carrying a penknife in his pockets and harbouring murderous un-American sentiments.

It is sad that the American society is so divided in normal times, that in times like these, groups of people turn so easily to find others to victimise. (It is also true in China which on Saturday banned all 'Middle-Eastern people', including Israelis, from their aeroplanes).

Many Americans will be cheered by statements such as those made by Mr Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defence: All he wants, he said, is that America should be able to continue to live and behave as it has always done.

Ex-President George H W Bush, cannot see that continuing as a partner in a consulting firm which advises the bin Laden family, may be a serious conflict of interest. But, as Calvin Coolidge said, long ago, "the business of America is business" and what is good for George Bush must be good for America, if I may resurrect the sentiments of Mr Charles Wilson, chairman of General Motors 40 years ago.

Corporate profiling

The European Parliament is now studying a complaint against several US corporations, including Unocal oil and the Halliburton Company, of which, until recently, Mr Dick Cheney, vice-president of the United States, was head.

During Mr Cheney's reign at Halliburton that company was not only in receipt of massive corporate welfare from the United States, it was also the beneficiary of forced labour in the forests of Burma where it was building an oil pipeline. Complaints to the EU parliament and to the International Labour Organisation suggest that Halliburton and Unocal must have been party to the brutalisation, murder and rape, which guaranteed their contracts and their profits in Burma.

Unfortunately, when ordinary Americans ask themselves why the US is so hated abroad, they lack the background knowledge of the brutal tactics of their government and their corporations in foreign countries over the years. The US press is increasingly owned by the largest corporations whose interests include forced labour, sweated labour and all kinds of sharp practice in foreign countries, little of which is ever reported in the United States.

It should therefore come as no surprise that the major American television networks tamely agreed to a US government request to censor the words of Osama bin Laden on the somewhat imaginative theory that he may be encoding terrorist instructions in his videos. The US had already tried to get the Arabic counterpart of CNN, the Al Jazeera network of Qatar, to censor bin Laden. They failed.

The problem is that as many people expected, the US is losing the propaganda war. It is almost impossible not to lose a propaganda war against an abstraction. Terrorism may, in the American view, be incarnated in Mr bin Laden, but getting rid of him will not end terrorism.

It must be becoming obvious to the major US planners that smart bombs on an empty landscape don't suggest a real war against anyone or anything. Besides which, as the stories of the deprivation and human misery of Afghanistan filter out, the whole exercise looks a little too much like bullying. Iraq was almost a credible antagonist, with tanks and SCUD missiles, while poison gas was always a danger. The Afghans have a few portable Stinger missiles and some Kalashnikov rifles, hardly likely to be effective against high flying bombers.

Bombing a myth

Having made Mr bin Laden into a myth, the warriors for freedom will find it very difficult to confine the myth even if they capture the man. In a way, to the Muslims of the world, it now hardly matters whether bin Laden is captured or killed. He is already up there with Saladin and nothing anyone can now do can unravel the effect of the millions of words spent by the Americans in making him into a kind of supernatural bogeyman.

Trying to "get" bin Laden, as the FBI got Al Capone, is impossible, and anyway, is sure to lead to further terrorist attacks. As I said in my first column on this subject, terrorists and/or "freedom fighters" do not need to be led, if they are sufficiently imbued with a righteous sense of injustice and grievance. It is, after all, perfectly possible that the WTC terrorists were a self-contained group, determined to do their bit for Allah and the greater glory of Islam. Did they really need a bin Laden?

The grievance and bitterness were there before bin Laden and will survive him. As long as the causes for this bitterness and grievance persist, so long will the destructive anger and the horrific self-sacrifices continue.

Fighting "terrorism" is fighting a symptom. The disease will continue as long as Corporate America continues to push the American state in the furtherance of its own, hidden agenda while concealing its true nature from its own people.

According to Greek mythology, the Hydra was a ferocious monster -- a beast three times as tall as a man, with the body of a hound and nine snakelike heads. So hideous was the Hydra that most people died of fright at the mere sight of it. Those who didn't die of fright were soon poisoned by its breath. Hercules, sentenced to seven labours to expiate his crimes, was given, as his second labour, the killing of the monster, a thing so horrific that it seemed to have been made of all the foulest thoughts conceived since time began. When Hercules confronted the Hydra, he discovered that every time he cut off one of its heads, two grew in its place. Hercules' nephew, Iolaus, had the bright idea of burning the stumps as Hercules chopped off each head. Thus cauterised, the stumps could not regenerate. The last head of the monster was, however, immortal, so when Hercules cut off that one, he buried it beneath a huge rock from which it could never escape.

Until now

The demonification of bin Laden is beginning to resemble some of the Hydra's publicity material. In the United States, impressionable people, brought up on a diet of horror movies and video games, have been ready to see the head of Satan in the smoke from the WTC towers. They will probably be having nightmares about bin Laden for years after he is dead and gone.

If terrorism is the modern Hydra, its immortal head may very well be the injustice from which most of the world suffers. It can't be buried under a rock -- even though bin Laden himself might very well be if an American bomb hits the right cave in Afghanistan.

But bombs can destroy neither myths nor injustice.

Copyright ©2001 John Maxwell ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xBombing a Myth ``x1003204314,99810,Articles``x``x ``x1470 - Portuguese arrive in what is now Gabon.

1839 - Local Mpongwe ruler signs away sovereignty to the French.

1910 - Gabon becomes part of French Equatorial Africa.


1958 - Gabon votes to become autonomous republic in the French Community.

1960 - Gabon becomes independent.

1961 - Leon Mba elected president.

1964 - French forces restore Mba's presidency after crushing military coup.

1967 - Bongo becomes president after Mba dies.

1973 - Bongo converts to Islam and assumes the first name of Omar.

1990 - Opposition parties legalized, accuse the government of fraud in parliamentary elections held in September and October.

1991 - Parliament adopts a new constitution which formalises the multiparty system.

1993 - Bongo narrowly wins presidential election, the first held under the new multiparty constitution; opposition accuses government of electoral fraud.

1996 - Governing Gabonese Democratic Party wins significant majority in parliamentary elections.

1998 - Bongo re-elected to a seven-year term.

BBC - The slave children``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xGabon and modern Slavery in Africa``x1003708868,35159,Articles``x``x ``xEast and west are jockeying for influence in the Caucasus.
The prize is oil and gas
By Richard Norton-Taylor
GUARDIAN UK - A new and potentially explosive Great Game is being set up and few in Britain are aware of it. There are many players: far more than the two - Russia and Britain - who were engaged a century ago in imperial rivalry in central Asia and the north-west frontier. more

The oil behind Bush and Son's campaigns
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI - Just as the Gulf War in 1991 was all about oil, the new conflict in South and Central Asia is no less about access to the region's abundant petroleum resources, according to Indian analysts. more

The New Gold Mines of Central Asia
Dr. Walid Majid, Institue for Afghan Studies
It turns out that the Central Asian republics of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are sitting on what is thought to be one of the world's largest reserves of oil and gas. The total worth of the reserves is estimated to be somewhere between $2.5-$3.5 trillion at today's market prices.

Despite the vast resources, their current energy production is dwarfed by what could be in store in the coming decades. With their current low level of production and poor infra-structure everyone of these republics is in dire need of foreign capital as well as modern technology to exploit their buried natural reserves. Further complicating their plans, everyone of these new republics is landlocked, forcing them to find ways and means to reach consumer markets. By some accounts they need something like $50-$70 billion of foreign investment in the coming decades to enable them to extract and transport to energy hungry markets in Europe and Asia. (1) more

Lebanese-American businessman testified before the Senate
PBS - Richard Tamraz, a Lebanese-American businessman, testified before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that he donated $300,000 dollars to the Democratic National Committee to change U.S. policy towards plans to build a pipeline in Central Asia, but he is not the only one interested in bringing the oil out of the Caspian Sea region. Margaret Warner discusses the how geopolitics and oil money intersect with two experts. more

Afghan Pipeline: A New Great Game
BBC - Great-power interest in Afghanistan is once again rising, thanks to plans to build a new pipeline across the country, taking gas from landlocked Central Asia to Pakistan and world markets. In October the project took a step closer to reality with the signing of a deal between Turkmenistan, the primary source of the gas, and an international consortium led by the American UNOCAL company. But the problem, of course, is the continuing civil war in Afghanistan - and who, if anyone, in Afghanistan can guarantee security for the pipeline. Here's our regional analyst Malcolm Haslett: more

Unocal 'Smoking Gun' Alleged
By William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writer
Attorneys for a group of Burmese refugees say they have discovered a "smoking gun" document supporting their claims that a major U.S. oil company should be held accountable for human rights violations related to construction of a natural gas pipeline in Burma.

The 15 plaintiffs, representing thousands who fled to the Burma-Thailand border in the early 1990s, charge that Unocal Corp. and the French oil firm Total SA, partners in the project with the Burmese government, were complicit in human rights abuses by Burmese forces. The abuses allegedly included the forced relocation of entire villages, the use of slave labor, and numerous deaths, beatings, rapes and property seizures. Unocal denies the charges. more

A Taliban delegation visited Unocal's offices in Sugarland
When Kabul fell to Taliban forces, the US Oil company UNOCAL shocked world public opinion by announcing its optimism about developments in Afghanistan. The Taliban victory was perceived as a positive sign. It was revealed that UNOCAL had been involved in negotiations with Taliban over a gas pipeline construction project that is designed to pass through western Afghanistan, delivering Turkmen gas to Pakistan. Before the escalation of fighting in Afghanistan, Chris Taggart, UNOCAL's executive vice-president in charge of the gas pipeline project, told Reuters his company was providing "non-cash bonus payments" to Taliban in return for their cooperation with this US$2 billion project. The Saudi Arabian Delta Oil Company is also a project partner and is believed to have had contacts with Taliban. more

Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline
BBC - A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas. Unocal says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it. more

Ironies of the current crisis
CURWOOD: One of the ironies of the current crisis of terrorism is that Osama bin Laden and the Taliban both enjoyed American support not so very long ago. In the '80s, the U.S. encouraged fighters from across the Arab world to go to Afghanistan and repel the Soviet invasion. Once the Soviets were defeated, this force stayed in Afghanistan and from there began exporting their violent politics. more

US Department of Energy
Afghanistan's significance from an energy standpoint stems from its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and natural gas exports from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea. This potential includes the possible construction of oil and natural gas export pipelines through Afghanistan, which was under serious consideration in the mid-1990s. The idea has since been undermined by Afghanistan's instability. Since 1996, most of Afghanistan has been controlled by the Taliban movement, which the United States does not recognize as the government of Afghanistan. more

Unocal Looks To Afghanistan's Taliban For New Profits
The Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan will begin pumping gas to Pakistan through Afghanistan by the year 2001 under an agreement signed on July 23rd by the two countries with proposed pipeline builders. A senior Unocal official said that all major factions in Afghanistan, including the dominant Taliban Islamic movement, had also signed project support agreements or letters. more

But Unocal now denies that a firm agreement was ever reached
The company is not supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan in any way whatsoever. Nor do we have any project or involvement in Afghanistan. more

Gas pipeline could be a pipe dream
BBC - Two years ago, Unocal thought it had found the perfect route via Afghanistan to tap Turkmenistan's abundant natural gas and sell it to the energy-hungry markets of Pakistan and India. It then quickly found eager partners to share in the risks and began the quest for financing the $2bn project. more

Still, in 1999 reports from Pakistan suggested that Unocal was considering rejoining Centgas. Unocal vehemently denied the reports.

DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xCould Oil be the reason Britian and America rushed into this conflict?``x1004297541,22135,Articles``x``x ``xBy THABO MBEKI
The President of South Africa
------------

A struggle for political power is dragging the kingdom of Lesotho towards the abyss of a violent conflict. The Democratic Republic of Congo is sliding back into a conflict of arms, which its people had hoped they had escaped forever.

The silence of peace has died on the borders of Eritrea and Ethiopia because, in a debate about an acre or two of land, guns have usurped the place of reason. Those who had risked death in Guinea-Bissau, as they fought as comrades to evict the Portuguese colonialists, today stand behind opposing ramparts speaking to one fearsome rhythm of the beat of machine-gun fire.

A war seemingly without mercy rages in Algeria made more horrifying by a savagery which seeks to anoint itself with the sanctity of a religious faith.

Thus can we say that the children of Africa, from north to south, from the east to the west and at the very centre of our continent, continue to be consumed by death dealt out by those who have proclaimed a sentence of death on dialogue and reason and on the children of Africa, whose limbs are too weak to run away from the rage of the adults.

Both of these, the harbingers of death and the victims of their wrath, are as African as you and I. For that reason, for the reason that we are the disemboweled African mothers and the decapitated African children of Rwanda, we have to say: Enough and no more.

It is because of these pitiful souls, who are the casualties of a destructive force for whose birth they are not to blame, that Africa needs her renaissance. Were they alive and assured that the blight of human-made death had passed for ever, we would have less need to call for renaissance. In the summer of light and warmth and life-giving rain, it is to mock the gods to ask them for light and warmth and life-giving rain. The passionate hope for the warming rays of the sun is the offspring of the shill and dark nights of the winters of our lives.

Africa has no need for the criminals, who would acquire political power by slaughtering the innocents, as do the butchers of the people of Richmond in KwaZulu Natal. Nor has she need for such as those who, because they did not accept that power is legitimate only because it serves the interests of the people, laid Somalia to waste and deprived its people of a country which gave its citizens a sense of being, as well as the being to build themselves into a people.

Neither has Africa need for the petty gangsters who would be our governors by theft of elective positions, as a result of holding fraudulent elections, or by purchasing positions of authority through bribery and corruption. The thieves and their accomplices, the givers of the bribes and the recipients are as African as you and I. We are the corrupter and the harlot who act together to demean our continent and ourselves.

The time has come that we say enough and no more, and by acting to banish the shame remake ourselves as the midwives of the African renaissance.

An ill wind has blown me across the face of Africa. I have seen the poverty of Orlando East and the wealth of Morningside in Johannesburg. In Lusaka, I have seen the poor of Kanyama township and the prosperous risidents of Kubulonga. I have seen the African slums of Surulere in Lagos and the African opulence of Victoria Island. I have seen the faces of the poor in Mbari in Harare and the quiet wealth of Borrowdale.

And I have heard the stories of how those who had access to power, or access to those who had access to power, of how they have robbed and pillaged and broken all laws and all ethical norms with great abandon to acquire wealth, all of them tied by an invisible thread which they hope will connect them to Morningside and Borrowdale and Victoria Island and Kabulonga.

Every day, you and I see those who would be citizens of Kabulonga and Borowdale and Victoria Island and Morningside being born everywhere in our country. Their object in life is to acquire personal wealth by means both foul and fair. Their measure of success is the amount of wealth they can accumulate and the ostentation they can achieve which will convince all that they are a success because, in a visible way, they are people of means.

Thus they seek access to power or access to those who have access to power so that they can corrupt the political order for personal gain at all costs. In this equation, the poverty of the masses of the people becomes a necessary condition for the enrichment of the few and the corruption of political power the only possible condition for its exercise.

It is out of this pungent mixture of greed, dehumanizing poverty, obscene wealth and endemic public and private corrupt practice that many of Africa's coups d'etat, civil wars and situations of instability are born and entrenched.

The time has come that we call a halt to the seemingly socially approved deification of the acquisition of material wealth and the abuse of state power to impoverish the people and deny our continent the possibility to achieve sustainable economic development.

Africa cannot renew herself where its upper achelons are a mere parasite on the rest of society, enjoying a self-endowed mandate to use their political power and define the uses of such power such that its exercise ensures that our continent reproduces itself as the periphery of the world economic - poor, underdeveloped and incapable of development.

The African renaissance demands that we purge ourselves of the parasites and maintain a permanent vigilance against the danger of the entrenchment in African society of this rapacious stratum with its social morality according to which everything in society must be organized materially to benefit the few.

As we recall with pride the African scholar and author of the Middle Ages, Sadi of Timbuktu, who had mastered such subjects as law, logic, dialectics, grammar and rhetoric, and other African intellectuals who taught at the University of Timbuktu, we must ask the question: Where are Africa's intellectuals today?

In our world in which the generation of new knowledge and its application to change the human condition is the engine which moves human society further and further away from barbarism, do we have need to recall Africa's hundreds of thousands of intellectuals back from their places of emigration in Western Europe and North America to rejoin those who remain still within our shores?

I dream of the day when these, the African mathematicians and computer specialists in Washington and New York, the African physicists, engineers, doctors, business managers and economists, will return from London and Manchester and Paris and Brussels to add to the African pool of brain power to inquire into and find solutions to Africa's problems and challenges; to open the African door to the world of knowledge; to elevate Africa's place within the universe of research, the formation of new knowledge, education and information.

Africa's renewal demands that her intelligentia must immerse itself in the titanic and all-round struggle to end poverty, ignorance, disease and backwardness, inspired by the fact that the Africans of Egypt were, in some instances, two thousand years ahead of the Europeans of Greece in the mastery of such subjects as geometry, trigonometry, algebra and chemistry.

In the end, they wanted us to despise ourselves, convinced that if we were not subhuman we were, at least, not equal to the colonial master and mistress and were incapable of original thought and the African creativity which has endowed the world with an extraordinary treasure of masterpieces in architecture and the fine arts.

The beginning of our rebirth as a continent must be our own discovery of our soul, captured and made permanently available in the great works of creativity represented by the pyramids and sphinxes of Egypt, the stone buildings of Axum and the ruins of Carthage and Zimbabwe, the rock paintings of the San, the Benin bronzes and the African masks, the carvings of the Makonde and the stone sculptures of the Shona.

A people capable of such creativity could never have been less human than other human beings, and being as human as any other, such people can and must be its own liberator from the condition which seeks to describe our continent and its people as the poverty-stricken and disease-ridden primitives in a world riding the crest of a wave of progress and human upliftment. ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xAFRICAN RENAISSANCE ``x1005878464,9220,Articles``x``x ``xBy Casper W Erichsen

In a recent M-Net documentary, Scorched Earth, an array of historians described how the deplorable and inhumane conditions in concentration camps accounted for the deaths of 27 297 Boers, as well as an estimated 20 000 black casualties.
The programme marked the centenary of the use of concentration camps in South Africa.

The ripples of the outcry that followed Emily Hobhouse's exposure of these British war atrocities are still felt today, as illustrated by the very emotional tone of the M-Net programme.

These emotions stand in stark contrast to the largely forgotten history of Namibia's equally sinister history of concentration camps.

There were five concentration camps in all in Namibia, then German South West Africa, between 1904 and 1908. They were called Konzentrationslagern in reports and succeeded South African camps by two years.

The anti-colonial struggles of 1904 to 1908 were characterised by two major uprisings: the Herero uprising in northern and central Namibia and the Nama uprising in the south.

In January 1904 war broke out between the Herero nation and the German colonial administration in Namibia. The colonists were caught by surprise and suffered many defeats in the early stages of the sporadic and uncoordinated war.

After about six months the picture changed. The battle at the Waterberg, in the north-east, on August 11 1904, marked the beginning of the end for the Herero, who fled in their thousands into the Omaheke sandveld, perishing in high numbers.

The Herero nation was literally uprooted as an entire people spread across the Kalahari, trying to flee German punitive patrols. Those who did not reach Bechuanaland, now Botswana, either succumbed to the desert or were picked up by German patrols and put in concentration camps.

In 1904 camps had been set up in Windhoek, Okahandja and at the coastal town of Swakopmund. In 1905 two new camps were opened in Karibib and Lüderitz.

In terms of mortality statistics, the Namibian camps were horrific. An official report on the camps in 1908 described the mortality rate as 45,2% of all prisoners held in the five camps.

The prisoners were typically fenced in, either by thorn-bush fences or by barbed wire. As the word concentration implies, thousands of people were crammed into small areas. The Windhoek camp held about 5 000 prisoners of war in 1906.

Rations were minimal, consisting of a daily allowance of a handful of uncooked rice, some salt and water. Rice was an unfamiliar foodstuff to most, and the uncommon diet was the cause of many deaths.

Disease was uncontrolled. An almost total lack of medical attention, unhygienic living quarters, insufficient clothing and a high concentration of people meant that diseases such as typhoid spread rapidly.

Beatings and maltreatment were also part of life in the camps - the sjambok was often swung over the backs of prisoners who were forced to work.

The concentration camp on Shark Island, in the coastal town of Lüderitz, was the worst of the five Namibian camps. Lüderitz lies in southern Namibia, flanked by desert and ocean. In the harbour lies Shark Island, which then was connected to the mainland only by a small causeway.

The island is now, as it was then, barren and characterised by solid rock carved into surreal formations by the hard ocean winds. The camp was placed on the far tip of the relatively small island, where the prisoners would have suffered complete exposure to the gale-force winds that sweep Lüderitz for most of the year.

The first prisoners to arrive were, according to a missionary called Kuhlman, 487 Herero ordered to work on the railway between Lüderitz and Kubub.

The island soon took its toll: in October 1905 Kuhlman reported the appalling conditions and high death rate among the Herero on the island.

Throughout 1906 the island had a steady inflow of prisoners, with 1 790 Nama prisoners arriving on September 9 alone.

In the annual report for Lüderitz in 1906, an unknown clerk remarked that "the Angel of Death" had come to Shark Island. German Commander Von Estorff wrote in a report that approximately 1 700 prisoners had died by April 1907, 1 203 of them Nama. In December 1906, four months after their arrival, 291 Nama died (a rate of more than nine people a day). Missionary reports put the death rate at between 12 and 18 a day.

As much as 80% of the prisoners sent to the Shark Island concentration camp never left the island.

Fred Cornell, a British aspirant diamond prospector, was in Lüderitz when the Shark Island camp was being used. Cornell wrote of the camp: "Cold - for the nights are often bitterly cold there - hunger, thirst, exposure, disease and madness claimed scores of victims every day, and cartloads of their bodies were every day carted over to the back beach, buried in a few inches of sand at low tide, and as the tide came in the bodies went out, food for the sharks."

During the war a number of people from the Cape, strapped for money, sought employment as transport riders for German troops in Namibia.

Upon their return to the Cape some of these people recounted their stories, causing debate in the local media. On September 28 1905 an article appeared in the Cape Argus, with the heading: "In German S. W. Africa: Further Startling Allegations: Horrible Cruelty".

In the article, Percival Griffith, "an accountant of profession, who owing to hard times, took up on transport work at Angra Pequena [Lüderitz]", related his experiences.

"There are hundreds of them, mostly women and children and a few old men ... when they fall they are sjamboked by the soldiers in charge of the gang, with full force, until they get up ... On one occasion I saw a woman carrying a child of under a year old slung at her back, and with a heavy sack of grain on her head ... she fell.

"The corporal sjamboked her for certainly more than four minutes and sjamboked the baby as well ... the woman struggled slowly to her feet, and went on with her load. She did not utter a sound the whole time, but the baby cried very hard."

These atrocities did not go unnoticed by the Germans, who wrote reports, articles and letters about the camps. Shark Island came up in a German Parliament debate in 1906, when the Social Democrats demanded to know what was going on there.

It seems, however, that generations since then have tried hard to forget this history.

The South African camps have memorials and written histories, the Namibian camps do not. On the site where Shark Island once lay now lies a caravan park. Even worse, at the entrance of the park is a monument to the German soldiers who died between 1905 and 1908 - a monument to the victor and not the victim.

The centenary of the 1904 war is just around the corner; perhaps Namibians will take the opportunity to reflect, not so much on what is remembered but rather on what is not.

-- The Mail&Guardian, August 23, 2001.``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xConcentration camps were used by the Germans in South West Africa ``x1005964774,9800,Articles``x``x ``xby James W. Loewen

Over the last few years, I have asked hundreds of college students, "When was the country we now know as the United States first settled?"

That is a generous way of putting the question. Surely "we now know as" implies that the original settlement happened before the United States. I had hoped that students would suggest 30,000 BC, or some other pre-Columbian date. They did not. Their consensus answer was "1620."

Part of the the problem is the word "settle." "Settlers" were white. Indians did not settle. Nor are students the only people misled by "settle." One recent Thanksgiving weekend, I listened as a guide at the Statue of Liberty told about European immigrants "populating a wild East Coast." As we shall see, however, if Indians had not already settled New England, Europeans would have had a much tougher job of it.

Starting with the Pilgrims not only leaves out the Indians, but also the Spanish. In the summer of 1526 five hundred Spaniards and one hundred black slaves founded a town near the mouth of the Pedee River in what is now South Carolina. Disease and disputes with nearby Indians caused many deaths. Finally, in November the slaves rebelled, killed some of their masters, and escaped to the the Indians. By now only 150 Spaniards survived, and they evacuated back to Haiti. The ex-slaves remained behind. So the first non-Native settlers in "the country we now know as the United States" were Africans.

The Spanish continued their settling in 1565, when they massacred a settlement of French Protestants at St. Augustine, Florida, and replaced it with their own fort. Some Spanish were pilgrims, seeking regions new to them to secure religious liberty: these were Spanish Jews, who settled in New Mexico in the late 1500s. Few Americans know that one third of the United States, from San Francisco to Arkansas to Natchez to Floirda, has been Spanish longer than it has been "American." Moreover, Spanish culture left an indelible impact on the West. The Spanish introduced horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and the basic elements of cowboy culture, including its vocabulary: mustang, bronco, rodeo, lariat, and so on.

Beginnning with 1620 also omits the Dutch, who were living in what is now Albany by 1614. Indeed, 1620 is not even the date of the first permanent British settlement, for in 1607, the London Company sent settlers to Jamestown, Virginia. No matter. The mythic origin of "the country we now know as the United States" is at Plymouth Rock, and the year is 1620. My students are not at fault. The myth is what their testbooks and their culture have offered them. I examined how twelve textbooks used in high school American history classes teach Thanksgiving. Here is the version in one high school history book, THE AMERICAN TRADITION:

After some exploring, the Pilgrims chose the land around Plymouth Harbor for their settlement. Unfortunately, they had arrived in December and were not prepared for the New England winter. However, they were aided by freindly Indians, who gave them food and showed them how to grow corn. When warm weather came, the colonists planted, fished, hunted, and prepared themselves for the next winter. After harvesting their first crop, they and their Indian friends celebrated the first Thanksgiving.

My students also learned that the Pilgrims were persecuted in England for their religion, so they moved to Holland. They sailed on the Mayflower to America and wrote the Mayflower Compact. Times were rough, until they met Squanto. He taught them how to put fish in each corn hill, so they had a bountiful harvest.

But when I ask them about the plague, they stare back at me. "What plague? The Black Plague?" No, that was three centuries earlier, I sigh.

"THE WONDERFUL PLAGUE AMONG THE SAVAGES"

The Black Plague does provide a useful introduction, however. Black (or bubonic) Plague "was undoubtedly the worst disaster that has ever befallen mankind." In three years it killed 30 percent of the population of Europe. Catastrophic as it was, the disease itself comprised only part of the horror. Thinking the day of judgment was imminent, farmers failed to plant crops. Many people gave themselves over to alcohol. Civil and economic disruption may have caused as much death as the disease itself.

For a variety of reasons --- their probable migration through cleansing Alaskan ice fields, better hygiene, no livestock or livestock-borne microbes --- Americans were in Howard Simpson's assessment "a remarkable healthy race" before Columbus. Ironically, their very health now proved their undoing, for they had built up no resistance, genetically or through childhood diseases, to the microbes Europeans and Africans now brought them. In 1617, just before the Pilgrims landed, the process started in southern New England. A plague struck that made the Black Death pale by comparison.

Today we think it was the bubonic plague, although pox and influencza are also candidates. British fishermen had been fishing off Massachusetts for decades before the Pilgrims landed. After filling their hulls with cod, they would set forth on land to get firewood and fresh water and perhaps capture a few Indians to sell into slavery in Europe. On one of these expeditions they probably transmitted the illness to the people they met. Whatever it was, within three years this plague wiped out between 90 percent and 96 percent of the inhabitants of southern New England. The Indian societies lay devastated. Only "the twentieth person is scare left alive," wrote British eyewitness Robert Cushman, describing a death rate unknown in all previous human experience. Unable to cope with so many corposes, survivors fled to the next tribe, carrying the infestation with them, so that Indians died who had never seen a white person. Simpson tells what the Pilgrims saw:

The summer after the Pilgrims landed, they sent two envoys on a diplomatic mission to treat with Massasoit, a famous chief encamped some 40 miles away at what is now Warren, Rhode Island. The envoys discovered and described a scene of absolutie havoc. Villages lay in ruins because there was no one to tend them. The ground was strewn with the skulls and the bones of thousands of Indians who had died and none was left to bury them.

During the next fifteen years, additional epidemics, most of which we know to have been smallpox, struck repeatedly. Europeans caught smallpox and the other maladies, to be sure, but most recovered, including, in a later century, the "heavily pockmarked George Washington." Indians usually died. Therefore, almost as profound as their effect on Indian demographics was the impact of the epidemics on the two cultures, European and Indian. The English Separatists, already seeing their lives as part of a divinely inspired morality play, inferred that they had God on their side. John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, called the plague "miraculous." To a friend in England in 1634, he wrote:

But for the natives in these parts, God hath so pursued them, as for 300 miles space the greatest part of them are swept away by the small pox which still continues among them. So as God hath thereby cleared our title to this place, those who remain in these parts, being in all not fifty, have put themselves under our protect....
Many Indians likewise inferred that their God had abandoned them. Cushman, our British eyewitness, reported that "those that are left, have their courage much abated, and their countenance is dejected, and they seem as a people affrighted." After all, neither they nor the Pilgrims had access to the germ theory of disease. Indian healers offered no cure, their religion no explanation. That of the whites did. Like the Europeans three centuries before them, many Indians surrendered to alcohol or bagan to listen to Christianity.

These epidemics constituted perhaps the most important single geopolitical event of the first third of the 1600s, anywhere on the planet. They meant that the British would face no real Indian challenge for their first fifty years in America. Indeed, the plague helped cause the legendary warm reception Plymouth enjoyed in its first formative years from the Wampanoags. Massasoit needed to ally with the Pilgrims because the plague had so weakened his villages that he feared the Narragansetts to the west.

Moreover, the New England plagues exemplify a process which antedated the Pilgrims and endures to this day. In 1942, more than 3,000,000 Indians lived on the island of Haiti. Forty years later, fewer than 300 remained. The earliest Portuguese found that Labrador teemed with hospitable Indians who could easily be enslaved. It teems no more. In about 1780, smallpox reduced the Mandans of North Dakota from nine villages to two; then in 1837, a second smallpox epidemic reduced them from 1600 persons to just 31. The pestilence continues; a fourth of the Yanomamos of northern Brazil and souther Venezuela died in the year prior to my writing this sentence.

Europeans were never able to "settle" China, India, Indonesia, Japan, or most of Africa because too many people already lived there. Advantages in military and social technology would have enabled Europeans to dominate the Americas, as they eventually dominated China and Africa, but not to "settle" the New World. For that, the plague was required. Thus, except for the European (and African) invasion itself, the pestilence was surely the most important event in the history of America.

What do we learn of all this in the twelve histories I studied? Three offer some treatment of Indian disease as a factor in European colonization. LIFE AND LIBERTY does quite a good job. AMERICA PAST AND PRESENT supplies a fine analysis of the general impact of Indian disease in American history, though it leaves out the plague at Plymouth. THE AMERICAN WAY is the only text to draw the appropriate geopolitical inference about the importance of the Plymouth outbreak, but it never discuses Indian plagues anywhere else. Unfortunately, the remaining nine books offer almost nothing. Two totally omit the subject. Each of the other seven furnishes only a fragment of a paragraph that does not even make it into the index, let alone into students' minds.

Everyone knew all about the plague in colonial America. Even before the Mayflower sailed, King James of England gave thanks to "Almighty God in his great goodness and bounty towards us," for sending "this wonderful plague among the savages." Today it is no surprise that not one in a hundred of my college students has ever heard of the plague. Unless they read LIFE AND LIBERTY or PAST AND PRESENT, no student can come away from these books thinking of Indians as people who made an impact on North America, who lived here in considerable numbers, who settled, in short, and were then killed by disease or arms.

ERRAND INTO THE WILDERNESS

Instead of the plague, our schoolbooks present the story of the Pilgrims as a heroic myth. Referring to "the little party" in their "small, storm-battered English vessel," their story line follows Perry Miller's use of a Puritan sermon title, ERRAND INTO THE WILDERNESS. AMERICAN ADVENTURES even titles its chapter about British settlement in North America "Opening the Wilderness." The imagery is right out of Star Trek: "to go boldly where none dared go before."

The Pilgrims had intended to go to Virginia, where there already was a British settlement, according to the texts, but "violent storms blew their ship off course," according to some texts, or else an "error in navigation" caused them to end up hundreds of miles to the north. In fact, we are not sure where the Pilgrims planned to go. According to George Willison, Pilgrim leaders never intended to settle in Virginia. They had debated the relative merits of Guiana versus Massachusetts precisely because they wanted to be far from Anglican control in Virginia. They knew quite a bit about Massachusetts, from Cape Cod's fine fishing to that "wonderful plague." They brought with them maps drawn by Samuel Champlain when he toured the area in 1605 and a guidebook by John Smith, who had named it "New England" when he visited in 1614. One text, LAND OF PROMISE, follows Willison, pointing out that Pilgrims numbered only about thirty-five of the 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower. The rest were ordinary folk seeking their fortunes in the new Virginia colony. "The New England landing came as a rude surpise for the bedraggled and tired [non-Pilgrim] majority on board the Mayflower," says Promise. "Rumors of mutiny spread quickly." Promise then ties this unrest to the Mayflower Compact, giving its readers a uniquely fresh interpretation as to why the colonists adopted it.

Each text offers just one of three reasons---storm, pilot error, or managerial hijacking--to explain how the Pilgrims ended up in Massachusetts. Neither here nor in any other historical controversy after 1620 can any of the twelve bear to admit that it does not know the answer---that studying history is not just learning answers--that history contains debates. Thus each book shuts student sout from the intellectual excitement of the discipline.

Instead, textbooks parade ethnocentric assertions about the Pilgrims as a flawless unprecedented band laying the foundations of our democracy. John Garraty presents the Compact this way in AMERICAN HISTORY: "So far as any record shows, this was the first time in human history that a group of people consiously created a government where none had existed before." Such accounts deny students the opportunity to see the Pilgrims as anything other than pious stereotypes.

"IT WAS WITH GOD'S HELP...FOR HOW ELSE COULD WE HAVE DONE IT?"

Settlement proceeded, not with God's help but with the Indians'. The Pilgrims chose Plymouth because of its cleared fields, recently planted in corn, "and a brook of fresh water [that] flowed into the harbor," in the words of TRIUMPH OF THE AMERICAN NATION. It was a lovely site for a town. Indeed, until the plague, it had been a town. Everywhere in the hemisphere, Europeans pitched camp right in the middle of native populations---Cuzco, Mexico City, Natchez, Chicago. Throughout New England, colonists appropriated Indian cornfields, which explains why so many town names---Marshfield, Springfield, Deerfield--end in "field".

Inadvertent Indian assistance started on the Pilgrims' second full day in Massachusetts. A colonist's journal tells us:

We marched to the place we called Cornhill, where we had found the corn before. At another place we had seen before, we dug and found some more corn, two or three baskets full, and a bag of beans. ..In all we had about ten bushels, which will be enough for seed. It was with God's help that we found this corn, for how else could we have done it, without meeting some Indians who might trouble us. ...The next morning, we found a place like a grave. We decided to dig it up. We found first a mat, and under that a fine bow...We also found bowls , trays, dishes, and things like that. We took several of the prettiest things to carry away with us, and covered the body up again.
A place "like a grave!"

More help came from a alive Indian, Squanto. Here my students are on familiar turf, for they have all leanred the Squanto legend. LAND OF PROMISE provides an archetypal account"

Squanto had learned their language, he explained, from English fishermen who ventured into the New England waters each summer. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn, squash, and pumpkins. Would the small band of settlers have survived without Squanto's help? We cannot say. But by the fall of 1621, colonists and Indians could sit down to several days of feast and thanksgiving to God (later celebrated as the first Thanksgiving).

What do the books leave out about Squanto? First, how he learned English. As a boy, along with four Penobscots, he was probably stolen by a British captain in about 1605 and taken to England. There he probably spent nine years, two in the employ of a Plymouth merchant who later helped finance the Mayflower. At length, the merchant helped him arrange passage back to Massachusetts. He was to enjoy home life for less than a year, however. In 1614, a British slave raider seized him and two dozen fellow Indians and sold them into slavery in Malaga, Spain. Squanto escaped from slavery, escaped from Spain, made his way back to England, and in 1619 talked a ship captain into taking him along on his next trip to Cape Cod.

It happens that Squanto's fabulous odyssey provides a "hook" into the plague story, a hook that our texts choose to ignore. For now Squanto walked to his home village, only to make the horrifying discovery that, in Simpson's words, "he was the sole member of his village still alive. All the others had perished in the epidemic two years before." No wonder he throws in his lot with the Pilgrims, who rename his village "Plymouth!" Now that is a story worth telling! Compare the pallid account in LAND OF PROMISE. "He had learned their language from English fishermen." What do we make of books that give us the unimportant details--Squanto's name, the occupation of his enslavers--while omitting not only his enslavement, but also the crucial fact of the plague? This is distortion on a grand scale.

William Bradford praised Squanto for many services, including his "bring[ing] them to unknow places for their profit." "Their profit" was the primary reason most Mayflower colonists made the trip. It too came from the Indians, from the fur trade; Plymouth would never have paid for itself without it. Europeans had neither the skill nor the desire to "go boldly where none dared go before.|" They went to the Indians.

"TRUTH SHOULD BE HELD SACRED, AT WHATEVER COST"

Should we teach these truths about Thanksgiving? Or, like our textbooks, should we look the other way? Again quoting LAND OF PROMISE. "By the fall of 1621, colonists and Indians could sit down to several days of feast and thanksgiving to God (later celebrated as the first Thanksgiving)." Throughout the nation, elementary school children still enact Thanksgiving every fall as our national origin myth, complete with Pilgrim hats made of construction paper and Indian braves with feathers in their hair. An early Massachusetts colonist, Colonel Thomas Aspinwall, advises us not to settle for this whitwash of feel - good - history.

"It is painful to advert to these things. But our forefathers, though wise, pious, and sincere, were nevertheless, in respect to Christian charity, under a cloud; and, in history, truth should be held sacred, at whatever cost."

Thanksgiving is full of embarrassing facts. The Pilgrims did not introduce the Native Americans to the tradition; Eastern Indians had observed autumnal harvest celebrations for centuries. Our modern celebrations date back only to 1863; not until the 1890s did the Pilgrims get included in the tradition; no one even called them "Pilgrims" until the 1870s. Plymouth Rock achieved ichnographic status only in the nineteenth century, when some enterprising residents of the town moved it down to the water so its significance as the "holy soil" the Pilgrims first touched might seem more plausible. The Rock has become a shrine, the Mayflower Compact a sacred text, and our textbooks play the same function as the Anglican BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, teaching us the rudiments of the civil religion of Thanksgiving.

Indians are marginalized in this civic ritual. Our archetypal image of the first Thanksgiving portrays the groaning boards in the woods, with the Pilgrims in their starched Sunday best and the almost naked Indian guests. Thanksgiving silliness reaches some sort of zenith in the handouts that school children have carried home for decades, with captions like, "They served pumpkins and turkeys and corn and squash. The Indians had never seen such a feast!" When his son brought home this "information" from his New Hampshire elementary school, Native American novelist Michael Dorris pointed out "the Pilgrims had literally never seen `such a feast,' since all foods mentioned are exclusively indigenous to the Americas and had been provided by [or with the aid of] the local tribe."

I do not read Aspinwall as suggesting a "bash the Pilgrims" interpretation, emphasizing only the bad parts. I have emphasized untoward details only because our histories have suppressed everything awkward for so long. The Pilgrims' courage in setting forth in the late fall to make their way on a continent new to them remains unsurpassed. In their first year, like the Indians, they suffered from diseases. Half of them died. The Pilgrims did not cause the plague and were as baffled as to its true origin as the stricken Indian villagers. Pilgrim-Indian relations began reasonably postitively. Thus the antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history, but honest and inclusive history. "Knowing the truth about Thanksgiving, both its proud and its shameful motivations and history, might well benefit contemporary children," suggests Dorris. "But the glib retelling of an ethnocentric and self-serving falsehood does no one any good." Because Thanksgiving has roots in both Anglo and Native cultures, and because of the interracial cooperation the first celebration enshrines, Thanksgiving might yet develop into a holiday that promotes tolerance and understanding. Its emphasis on Native foods provides a teachable moment, for natives of the Americas first developed half of the world's food crops. Texts could tell this--only three even mention Indian foods---and could also relate other contributions form Indian societies, from sports to political ideas. The original Thanksgiving itself provides an interesting example: the Natives and newcomers spent the better part of three days showing each other their various recreations.

Origin myths do not come cheaply. To glorify the Pilgrims is dangerous. The genial ommissions and false details our texts use to retail the Pilgrim legend promote Anglocentrism, which only handicaps us when dealing with all those whose culture is no Anglo. Surely, in histor, "truth should be held sacred, at whatever cost."

Lies My Teacher Told Me

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.) ``xmeri``xmeri@trinicenter.com``xThe Truth about The First Thanksgiving ``x1006609974,95667,Articles``x``x ``xBy John Noble Wilford, New York Times
December 2, 2001

More than 70,000 years ago, people occupied a cave in a high cliff facing the Indian Ocean at the tip of South Africa. They hunted grysbok, springbok and other game. They ate fish from the waters below them. In body and brain size, these cave dwellers were definitely anatomically modern humans.

Archaeologists are now finding persuasive evidence that these people were taking another important step toward modernity. They were turning animal bones into tools and finely worked weapon points, a skill more advanced in concept and application than the making of the usual stone tools. They were also engraving some artifacts with symbolic marks — manifestations of abstract and creative thought and, presumably, communication through articulate speech.

The new discoveries at Blombos Cave, 200 miles east of Cape Town, are turning long-held beliefs upside down.

Until now, modern human behavior was widely assumed to have been a very late and abrupt development that seemed to have originated in a kind of "creative explosion" in Europe. The most spectacular evidence for it showed up after modern Homo sapiens arrived there from Africa about 40,000 years ago. Although there had been suggestions of an African genesis of modern behavior, no proof had turned up, certainly nothing comparable to the fine tools and cave art of Upper Paleolithic Europe.

"I used to accept the `creative explosion' concept for the origin of modern human behavior," said Dr. Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution. "Now I think the nails are going into the coffin of that hypothesis. We are seeing many elements of modernity that were developing much earlier, in Africa, and more gradually."

One reason Europe's prehistoric surge of creativity held the attention of scholars for so long was that it had virtually no serious competition. Archaeologists had spent little time digging African sites of that period, while every year in Europe they seemed to find more cavern walls adorned with painted deer, horses and wild bulls. Enthralled, scholars perhaps could not bring themselves to look for earlier and more distant origins of modern behavior.

But after more than a decade of controversy, the South African cave artifacts are now being generally accepted as the earliest evidence of such modern human behavior. If correct, these and other findings establish that Homo sapiens came out of Africa not only with fully modern anatomies, but also with at least 30,000 years of