Musical Break - Tiken Jah Fakoly

Tiken Jah Fakoly is a reggae artist from Côte d'Ivoire. His music often deals with issues of social justice and the numerous problems facing not only his home country, but Africa as a whole. I actually discovered his music in, believe it or not, my French textbook. I was impressed with the lyrics I was reading and decided to look him up later that day. So I did, and I really liked what I heard.

Here's a video for one of his songs, the one I read in my textbook - Y'en a marre





And here are the lyrics (with a translation):

On en a marre - We're fed up
L'Afrique en a marre marre marre - Africa's sick, sick, sick of it
On en a marre - We're sick of it
Le peuple en a marre marre marre - The people are sick, sick, sick of it

Des journalistes assassinés - Assassinated journalists
Parce que des présidents assassins - Because of assassin-presidents
Des généraux aux commandes - Generals in power
Des populations opprimées - Oppressed populations
Des aides aux pays détournées - Aid to the countries diverted
Des populations affamées - Starving populations
Les fonds du pays dilapidées - The countries' funds squandered
Les droits de l'homme ignorés- Human rights ignored

{au Refrain}- Chorus

Après l'abolition de l'esclavage - After the abolition of slavery
Ils ont crée la colonisation - They made up colonization
Lorsque l'on a trouvé la solution - When we found the solution
Ils ont crée la coopération - They created cooperation
Comme on dénonce cette situation - As we denounce this situation
Ils ont crée la mondialisation - They've created globalization
Et sans expliquer la mondialisation - And without explaining globalization
C'est Babylone qui nous exploite - It's Babylon that exploits us

{au Refrain} - Chorus

Yaniss Odua :
Faut qu'on arrete de cautionner - We must stop giving support to
Ca, la vie de nos frères ne compte pas pour cette bande de vanpayas - that, our brothers' lives mean nothing to this band of vampires
Stoppons les guerres gardons la foi - Let's stop the wars, let's keep the faith
Faya sur tous les chefs d'Etat qui nous envoient tuer nos brothers - Fire on all the heads of states who send us to kill our brothers
Ils ne nous respectent pas c'est la même chose pour leurs lois - They don't respect us, the same for their laws
Ils ne regardent même pas quand le peuple réclame ses droits - They don't even look when the people assert their rights.
Ils ne partagent surtout pas l'argent c'est pas qu' y en a pas - They especially don't share the money, it's not that there's none of it.
Ils ne font rien pour nos sisters qui se vendent pour vivre dans ce monde-là - They do nothing for our sisters who sell themselves to live in this world.

{au Refrain}- Chorus

Des présidents assassins - Assassin-Presidents,
On veut plus - We don't want (them) anymore
Des généraux aux commandes - Generals in power
On en veut plus - We don't want them anymore
Des enfants militaires - Child soldiers
On veut plus - We don't want them anymore
Des orphelins de guerre - Orphans of war
On n'en veut plus - We don't want them anymore

{au Refrain}- Chorus

L'Afrique en a marre - Africa's sick of it
De toutes ces machinations - Of all these machinations
Mon peuple en a marre - My people are sick of it
De toutes ces manipulations - Of all these manipulations
L'Afrique en a marre - Africa is sick of it
De toutes ces exploitations - Of all this exploitation
Mon peuple en a marre - My people are sick of it
De toute cette oppression - Of all this oppression
L'Afrique en a marre- Africa is sick of it

Hope you enjoyed it. You can find more at Tiken Jah Fakoly's official website.

A Coalition in Sudan?

Here's an interesting article from the BBC. According to reports:

With polling due to end on Thursday, Mr Bashir has extended an offer to other parties to join his ruling National Congress Party.

I'm not really sure what to make of this. It would be nice if al-Bashir and his party would really listen to the other parties and perhaps form some sort of legitimate government. But it's really difficult for me to see him as a democratically-minded leader. This is especially true when considering the way he came to power and how he has acted since. This whole election has really been interesting. One thing I have noticed though, that is a bit disconcerting, is the lack of coverage or reporting on how the Darfur region is being affected or how it is participating (if at all) in this election. That's another reason that I have my doubts about al-Bashir's overture, his inaction and denials relating to the violence there.

The end.

No, no, no, don't worry. I'm not giving up on this blog already like I have my others. I'm just talking about the end of my exams and how much of a relief it is not having to really worry about them anymore. The major part of my exam week is over now, with four out of my five done. The last one's a take-home exam/paper that I have to write, and yeah, it will probably take a while, but it's nothing compared to the burden of having to study for hours for an in-class exam. I've been really stressed out since Sunday over them, considering the first two days of exam week were also my two most difficult exams (International Law and Developmental Politics). Today wasn't so bad, I had to turn in my French take-home final and take my Stats exam. They were both pretty easy but having them hang over my head was more of an annoyance than anything, and I really just wanted to get them out of the way.

And I did, and it's a huge weight off of my shoulders. My room is finally cleaned up, instead of having clothes flung all over my bed and all over the floor...and pretty much anywhere they could get to. I can finally catch up on the news I've been missing. And most importantly I can finally relax and stop being so irritable, and taking it out on everyone around me, including Caitlin, my amazing girlfriend. It's a beautiful day outside, I'm feeling optimistic and looking forward to the next week that I have off, with her coming to my hometown for a while. It'll be nice. Really nice.

In other news, here are a couple interesting things I've read today that I think you'll appreciate. One about the elections in Sudan, and another about the United States' tactics in Afghanistan under the Obama administration.

Some News from Sudan

There are two really interesting pieces on Sudan from the BBC today. 

The first discusses how the Sudanese government has extended the election by two days after some "mix-ups" have occurred. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. On the one hand it could be a step in the right direction. It could show that perhaps, quite unexpectedly, the Sudanese government is actually interested in hearing the opinions of the Sudanese people. On the other hand, projecting that image while actually manipulating the vote could be the real goal behind the extension. Hearing reports of voting stations being moved without voters being informed, and the fact that voting in the South wasn't even able to begin until today because they had not received ballots is troubling, but I guess the best we can do from the outside is wait and see. However, as the piece notes, there are several problems with the election, even if al-Bashir and his National Congress party do win a legitimate, democratic, mandate.

The second is a piece on the village of Mathiang Dit in South Sudan. You can hear the stories of five villagers who fled their home and returned after the 2005 peace deal. I really appreciate pieces where you get to hear the people's stories from the people themselves. It's a much different perspective than a Western reporter simply doing a story, and I think it's a perspective we in the West need to hear.

Hausa

Another language post! This time it's on Hausa, another African language that I'm considering attempting to learn. I want to learn at least one language from each continent, and so far only have Europe and North America covered, and to a certain extent South America with a passable level of Spanish. I'll keep this going next year by beginning to learn Japanese, taking care of Asia. But that leaves Africa, the continent I plan to spend the greater part of my life studying and where I plan to work for at least a couple of years. I've discovered that some of the colleges near my hometown offer courses in the language over the summer. So this might be a better
option for me than Wolof. In addition it's also more widely spoken than Wolof so
that is something to consider as well.

The Foreign Service Institute also has its Hausa Basic Course text and audio on-line, so that might help too. UCLA's Hausa Home Page is another great resource with a lot of information on the language.

Image from Hausa Language

How (Not) to Write About Africa

Think of how many of these stereotypes we encounter whenever the new "cause of the day" becomes a fad among celebrties:

Sudan's Elections Underway

Sudan held its first multi-party elections today, 11 April 2010. Many parties, especially those in South Sudan boycotted the elections which they see as corrupt, flawed, and most likely rigged. Either way, it will be interesting to see the turn-out and how the remaining opposition parties fare.

Interesting fact: 1,012 women are on the ballot representing many political views. This is quite a large number for a country whose northern portion finds its law rooted in Sharia.

Image from Flickr

The Wolof Language

Wolof is the name of both a language and an ethnic group found in West Africa. It was also the name of a medieval African state that existed in what is now Senegal and Gambia. Today, the language is spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania. It is a member of the Niger-Congo language family and is not, in contrast to many other African languages, a tonal language.









Image adapted from Wikipedia (West Africa)

Elections in Sudan

The BBC has posted a Question and Answer page about the upcoming elections in Sudan. Here you'll find the answers to the questions everyone's been asking about these elections as well as short biographies of the key players, including President al-Bashir (pictured right).





Image from Flickr