Dutch artist Nadia Plesner got in hot water with Louis Vuitton in 2008 for depicting an African child with one of its high-end bags on one arm and a chihuahua in the other (below) as part of her campaign urging divestment from Sudan over the conflict in Darfur. Now the company is suing her again: this time, the luxury goods company has filed a copyright infringement suit at The Hague that will penalize her 5,000 Euros for each day a likeness of its Audra bag in her painting Darfurnica remains on her website. more + update.
...there is nothing here that distinguishes this cover; what a wasted opportunity to do something interesting.
The great joke of the musical is to have the hapless Elder Cunningham reinvent the Mormon story for beleaguered Ugandans, who have so far resisted conversion. At one Bible class, a disgruntled tribesman named Mutumbo (John Eric Parker) denounces the story as irrelevant to his life and makes for the exit, loudly announcing his plan to go and rape a baby to cure his AIDS. Elder Cunningham stops him with a fabulous piece of narrative improvisation, a combination of “Star Wars,” “The Hobbit,” and “Star Trek.” “People back then had even worse AIDS,” he says, winging it. “Behold, the Lord said to Mormon Joseph Smith, ‘You shall not have sex with that infant.’ Lo, Joseph Smith said, ‘Why not, Lord?’ And thusly the Lord said, ‘If you lay with an infant you shall burn in the fiery pits of Mordor. A baby cannot cure your illness, Joseph Smith. I shall give unto you a frog,’ and thus Joseph Smith laid with the frog and his AIDS was no more.” When the newly minted African Mormons act out the drama of Joseph Smith for some Mormon leaders who come to award Elder Cunningham a medal for his successful field work, the musical is at its most hilarious:The Book of Mormon may not be South Park but it sounds (and works) like South Park. The creators seem to have thrown the absurdity of being a Mormon at Africa and hit Uganda, which is serving here as a one-stop destination for many of continent's extreme absurdities. In reconciling the continent's far flung extremes with those of the Mormons, of course hilarity ensues. The South Park touch we guess is not just the willingness to take on such extremes in the first place but to take them on an elevator to absurdity's next floor. Already, we spotted two. No doubt, the whole issue of "raping a baby" as a cure for AIDs is a twist on the insane mix of commerce and powerful witchdoctors telling HIV-infected men ready to believe anything to be cured, that raping virgins animals and the elderly can cure them of their infection. And no doubt the character "General Butt-Fucking Naked" refers to Joshua Milton Blahyi, who was said to jump into fire fights butt-naked and was notorious for leading his band of drugged-up child soldiers, “The Butt Naked Brigade,” during Liberia's 2nd civil war. A new documentary, The Redemption of General Butt-Naked, dir by Daniele Anastasion and Eric Strauss's recently screened and nabbed an award at Sundance. Michael Keating reviews the doc over at Free African Media.
MUTUMBO: My name is Joseph Smit’. I’m going to fuck this baby.
CHORUS: No, no, Joseph. Don’t fuck the baby.
MUTUMBO: Suddenly the clouds parted and Joseph Smit’ was visited by God.
GOD: Joseph Smit’, do not fuck a baby. I’ll get rid of your AIDS if you fuck this frog.
The first principle of “The Book of Mormon” is that faith is nice but doubt gets you an education. When parodying what Thorstein Veblen called our “fearsome and feverish credulity,” the writers are equal-opportunity employers. Elder Price has the Book of Mormon rammed up his keister by an African rebel called General Butt-Fucking Naked; the devout doofus, prohibited by his faith from imbibing caffeine, has a spooky Mormon “hell-dream,” in which he is pursued by gigantic cups of Starbucks coffee. “I believe that in 1978 God changed his mind about black people,” he sings in “I Believe,” an anthem of Mormon articles of faith. (Blacks, according to Mormon tradition, were the descendants of Cain, cursed by God for his sins. “Cain slew his brother,” Brigham Young, the second president of the Church, wrote. “And the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.” Black men were not allowed to join the priesthood until 1978.
My country is still haunted by memories of the international community looking away. No country knows better than my own the costs of the international community failing to intervene to prevent a state killing its own people. In the course of 100 days in 1994, a million Rwandans were killed by government-backed "genocidaires" and the world did nothing to stop them. So it is encouraging that members of the international community appear to have learnt the lessons of that failure. Through UN Resolution 1973 we are seeing a committed intervention to halt the crisis that was unfolding in Libya.Below Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni praised Gaddafi's independence and condemned his excesses, such as his meddling with Uganda's monarchs (blogged here)
In the 90’s, Tuaregs fleeing repression in Mali sought refuge in Libya. During the rebellion, Muammar Gaddafi served as mediator between the authorities in Mali and Niger on the one hand and the Tuareg rebels on the other. "He doled out large sums of money to the leaders of rebel movements. He helped them in order to secure his hegemonic position in the Sahara region," says Camille Lefebvre, a specialist historian on Niger. The result of Gaddafi’s support has enabled many Tuaregs to acquire Libyan nationality thereby allowing them to join the northern African country’s army. And according to Moussa Al Koni, the Libyan-Tuareg soldiers who number between 3000 and 4000 have been transferred from the traditaional base in the south to the north of the country where the protests are taking place. "Gaddafi formed the ’Maraoui’ division composed of Tuareg fighters. These (Tuareg foot soldiers) have been used in Chad and Lebanon where many of them lost their lives." (more)
Then there is the key role played in the "Arab spring" by al-Jazeera, the satellite TV channel set up by the emir in 1996. Broadcasting from Doha, al-Jazeera is now the dominant Arabic-language news outlet in the region and increasingly recognised around the world. Al-Jazeera English is gaining fans...Al-Jazeera's role and Qatar's decision to send planes are both rooted in Qatar's size, its location on a spur of the Arabian peninsula and the emir's efforts to ensure his country's independence from much bigger neighbouring states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.If Al Jazeera reporters find themselves eporting on a Gadaffi compound bombed by a Qatari fighter, they should take some tips below from Jon Stewart and the Daily Show on how to handle all the full disclosures:
It's an interesting mix: two of Bush's "axis of evil" nations (only Iran is missing); countries with a history of Islamic terrorism (Indonesia and Afghanistan) or drug cartels (Mexico and Colombia); failed states (Somalia and Chad); and the BRIC economies—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—whose growing influence in world trade is obviously a threat to U.S. and European dominance. (more)Check out real footage from a Dutch marine's helmet camera as he takes down some Somali pirates - the whole thing already plays out like a first person shooter. If you add zombie villains to the mix, then South Africa also makes the cut.
In recent years, however, the pendulum has shifted. It turns out that the intrinsic nature of talent is overrated – our genes don’t confer specific gifts. (There is, for instance, no PGA gene.) This has led many researchers, such as K. Anders Ericsson, to argue that talent is really about deliberate practice, about putting in those 10,000 hours of intense training (plus or minus a few thousand hours). Beethoven wasn’t born Beethoven – he had to work damn hard to become Beethoven. As Ericsson wrote in his influential review article “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance”: “The differences between expert performers and normal adults are not immutable, that is, due to genetically prescribed talent. Instead, these differences reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance.” That’s interesting, right? Talent is about practice. Talent takes effort. Talent requires a good coach. But these answers only raise more questions. What, for instance, allows someone to practice for so long? Why are some people so much better at deliberate practice? If talent is about hard work, then what factors influence how hard we can work?We are sure Nejat would agree.
a bearded Muslim cleric, Mullah Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, who has spent the past decade bridging the divide between traditional and modern education for Muslims. From his main campuses here in Akkalkuwa, he has built a network of religious schools, hospitals and colleges with more than 150,000 students across the country, and earned a reputation among India’s Muslim clerics as a reformer. His success here led to his selection in January as vice chancellor, or rector, of India’s most prestigious and influential Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom, in the city of Deoband. Darul Uloom is known for its Orthodox rebukes of modernity, and the mullah is now in a struggle for its control.The piece also explains how he acheived his modern blend of Muslim education. But our other find also ties into this and it's from neighboring Pakistan. Boing put up this video of Pakistani actress Veena Malik wiping the floor with some self righteous mullah who came on TV to accuse her of every sin in book for appearing on the Indian TV show Bigg Boss (the Indian version of Big Brother):
"Don't we already have two wars? You know wars aren't kids... Where you don't have to pay attention to the youngest one because the older two will take care of it."
...why would we want to add to the [deficit]. You know you can't simultaneously fire teachers and Tomahawk missiles.
At the heart of my argument is the notion of otherness, strangeness, weirdness from abroad ... The strangeness of this experience: staging Racine, the language of the seventeenth century in this house with a story that is not mine,... with actors whose job is to embody roles hitherto unknown... That of Berenice, Queen of Palestine rejected by Rome in the East because of the blood flowing through her veins. Or the story of an eviction ... For Berenice gave her blood for the new emperor. What makes her stranger? Why does one remain a stranger or not? Does it have to do with a common history, ...shared territory? Are we [Congolese] condemned by blood to a given story? From the beginning of this guild, I had the need to reduce Berenice on my territory, the Congo, Kisangani, where I may be finally be done with it! To dip this text into this confined space, with its own rules, its own logic, the reality of the Congo today? And observe how this reality can infiltrate, contaminate Berenice?
One of the strongest reasons to intervene in Libya is the argument that the course of events there will influence the decisions of other despots about the use of force. If they realize that the international community will not allow the brutalization of their own people, and a robust new norm created, then intervention in Libya will pay off far beyond its borders.So it boils down to a government's disproportionate use of military force and where you want to draw the line: if Quattara and the Ivorians, the Iranians, Bahrainis, Yemenis, Zimbabweans, Cameroonians, Swazis, and whoever is considering toppling a dictator can tie their effort to all the jasmine in air and then wage protest to the point that the dictator in question calls in artillery and fighter jets to mow you down (sorry, your dictator will have to do better than snipers and riot police mowing you down with bullets at point blank range), then you've earned yourself an allied intervention.
...we could actually get these foreign companies to move to Benghazi to get more jobs for young men and women... just this chance to prove themselves; that's all we are asking for. I mean people (sigh)... People actually, when you say Libya, think Muhammad Quaddafi. Please don't judge us like that. Please, please, please don't judge us like that.For the sub-Saharan African side of the fighting, NY Times' caption on this pic said, "some of the dead included young fighters from other parts of Africa." Credit: New York Times/Patrick Baz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Mduduzi Gina, the secretary general of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), said the march was also a build up to demand a change to the Tinkhundla system of government in which the King appoints the prime minister and cabinet, as well as a total of 30 members of the upper and lower houses of parliament. "Nothing can stop us from ensuring that what happened in Tunisia and Egypt also takes place even here," Gina told the crowd, to enthusiastic applause. (more)At Free African Media, Manqoba Nxumalo explains why the local media hasn't been much help, calls out foreign media failure to call out the King's human right abuses and explains "Tinkhundla":
This is the Swazi system that allows only individual candidates – not representatives of a political party – to stand for election. Tinkhundla entrenches the power to govern with the king, who appoints 10 of the 55 directly elected members of parliament and 20 of the 30 members of senate. Under this system, the prime minister is appointed by the king, and no political parties are allowed. This system also ensures that all governing powers are held by the king, who exercises them through the prime minister.Swaziland Commentary adds:
The media gives the world an impression that the problems facing Swaziland have more to do with the king’s lifestyle than with an archaic and rotten political system that stifles any form of dissent and opposition. When King Mswati III jails, tortures and drives his political nemeses into exile, the South African media in particular, and the world media in general, do not find this worth headline news – even though a completely different approach is taken when it involves Zimbabwe.
....a partnership with YouTube which enables us to run adverts alongside or inside the movies you are watching. This means we will be able to ensure a film is free for NollywoodLovers globally... buying the right to stream movies on YouTube and the internet. These are multi year contracts which go directly to the film production houses....its also got its sights set on hulu, itunes, amazon vod...
Giving the breakdown of the nominations as announced on February 25th in Kenya, the Chief Executive Officer of the award body, Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe at a media briefing on Monday at Protea Leadway Hotel, Maryland, Ikeja gave the breakdown of the nominations, saying, Congo and South Africa got the highest nominations. She said that although Viva River, a film from Congo had the highest single nominations, South Africa has four films that are very strong that made the nominations too. The four South African films in competition include Hope Ville with 9 nominations, Izulu Lami, 7 nominations, Shirley Adams, 5 nominations and A Small Town Called Descent with 6 nominations. Combined together, South Africa had the highest nominations by a country with a total of 27 nominations.Ghana’s Sinking Sound had 10 nominations and Kenya’s Soul Boy had 6 nominations while Nigeria has four films that are also prominent on the nomination list with Tunde Kelani’s Maami, Inale, a film directed by Jeta Amata, Niyi Akanji’s Aramotu, and Mahmood Alli-Balogun’s Tango with Me. In by country nominations, Nigeria trails South Africa with 23 total nominations.Also news of a Prague School training initiative.
... held over lunch at the Élysée Palace, and it included prime ministers or foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, Germany, Norway, Italy, Qatar, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Poland and Mrs. Clinton for the United States. The Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa, a candidate for the Egyptian presidency, was also there, along with the incoming head of the league, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari of Iraq. Also attending were the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Mr. Ban of the United Nations. While Arab representatives came, following through on the Arab League’s call for a no-fly zone in Libya, there were no African leaders, and the head of the African Union, Jean Ping, did not attend, instead going to Mauritania for a meeting with African leaders tasked with mediating a peaceful end to the Libyan crisis.Let's start this with FP's Marc Lynch, who is torn by the UN Resolution 1973 passed Thursday authorizing a no-fly over Libya and, indirectly, the military intervention it takes to enforce it. But then he pretty much nails why the Western powers are going in:
One of the strongest reasons to intervene in Libya is the argument that the course of events there will influence the decisions of other despots about the use of force. If they realize that
We do not want cheesy films so soon about the revolution starring hypocrite actors who used to praise Mubarak day and night, we do not want films about the revolution after three months. This revolution is more than songs and cheesy films noon because the revolution is not over , we are still in the early steps from political view and from historical view.But she reserves a special place for Siyed Darwish (Arabic: سيد درويش; March 17, 1892 - September 15, 1923), who was recently doodled by google on his birthday, March 16th:
[In Sudan] The fund had just a few thousand bold investors until February 2010, when campaign season began for Sudan's April general election. Ismael and one of his partners, a police officer named Musa Siddig, became candidates for the North Darfur state assembly on the ticket of the ruling National Congress Party. Their faces appeared on giant banners alongside those of the governor and of President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur. This implied presidential endorsement set off a frenzy. People across Darfur, in Khartoum, and from as far away as the United Kingdom began liquidating their assets and investing the proceeds in Mawasir. By March 2010, the fund's capital reached 500 billion Sudanese pounds, about $180 million, the vast majority of it from new investors—this in a country with a yearly per-capita income of $2,200. Everyone wanted a piece. Rebels from a leading faction of the Sudan Liberation Army "neglected the struggle and came to make money," as one Darfuri put it. These dozens of Zaghawa fighters became agents for the fund, working off commission to collect cars, cows, camels, sheep, and even chickens in lieu of cash from would-be investors. "Even women were selling their dishes."In Benin...
They pressed up against the fence, anxious, angry and insistent that because they had seen pictures of President Thomas Yayi Boni, himself a former banker, alongside officials of the company, called Investment Consultancy and Computering Services, they assumed that it must be legitimate. Officials estimate that there are between 50,000 and 70,000 victims, with losses of perhaps $180 million — a big sum in a place where most subsist on less than $2 a day and breadwinners have extended families counting on them. “No family has been left untouched by this,” said Gustave Anani Cassa, a lawyer and former justice minister. More than 4,000 complaints have been brought to his law office alone, he said. “I’ve lost everything,” said Christian Benhoungbedi, an auto painter waiting outside the prefecture. He said he had invested hundreds of dollars. “I just wanted to help my family.” Some had waited days outside the yellowing government structure, spending the night under a huge mango tree. Others in the crowd spoke of suicides and deaths from hypertension because of the losses. They brandished official-looking “I.C.C.” contracts with the Statue of Liberty and the stamps and seals that are a staple of West African officialdom. They said they had been enticed by seeing members of the government on television with I.C.C. officials.Also read in the Slate piece how Ismael's ponzi scheme indirectly helped North Sudan president Omar Bashir but read here how the ICC Benin ponzi has dogged president Boni Yayi into a tough reelection race.
...not just another foreigner who got on TV because he could speak and sing in Chinese,” said Yu Na, 40, who lives in northwest Beijing, adding that she likes to “jump up and down” to Mr. Uwechue’s more upbeat songs; many of them are soul-infused versions of classic Chinese love songs, with faster rhythms. Mr. Uwechue is not the first foreigner to have made a name for himself in China, but he is the first African to have reached widespread success here. Some music industry experts in China credit part of his fame to the close economic and cultural ties — including friendship and exchange programs and other joint ventures — that have long existed between China and some African countries. In a recently televised public performance, Mr. Uwechue dressed up as an oil rig worker and sang alongside a Chinese fellow laborer.Read here the part where he said he also felt boxed in.... But we found even more interesting is the part in video where he explains the difference between the inflections of R&B and soul he brings and the Chinese preference for a more operatic rendering of feeling or emotion.
