Comments on: Relevant Conversation to “Is Africa or Africans Cursed?”

By: carmen

carmen — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:03:01 +0000

just a reminder to all, all changes come from the need to change and the need to change comes when the situation has turned the wrong way , loosing its capacity to give the needs the nation demands…… and the nation are the people.
Everything can be changed allways, but some times we have to fight for it ,shout for it, work for it, demand it because it is simply our wright to do so as a free , democratic nation.
And the problems Kenya is going throught are the same problems the rest of the countries are facesing today both financialy as political, the eternal problem of greed.
That a country is made up of diferent ethnic groups isnt the problem , I live in Spain , Spain has 4 major “ethnic”groups the Basque up in the north the Galician west north, Catalan down in the east and the Valencian down south .In these regions they speak their own dialect.
But going back to the article , it does say some thing very important and a truth to all nations , a ground embossed with freedom the will of a dream and the passion to fullfill it is the key to any progress.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:23:28 +0000

One Dictionary defines a Curse to be ” An Appeal for Evil or misfortune to befall a person or thing” and l went and pasted some other definitions that l came across:
profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger; “expletives were deleted”
utter obscenities or profanities; “The drunken men were cursing loudly in the street”
execration: an appeal to some supernatural power to inflict evil on someone or some group
heap obscenities upon; “The taxi driver who felt he didn’t get a high enough tip cursed the passenger”
hex: an evil spell; “a witch put a curse on his whole family”; “he put the whammy on me”
wish harm upon; invoke evil upon; “The bad witch cursed the child”
bane: something causing misery or death; “the bane of my life”
excommunicate: exclude from a church or a religious community; “The gay priest was excommunicated when he married his partner”
a severe affliction

Now who is it that would be cursing Africa, and why ???

By: northernkenya

northernkenya — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:56:11 +0000

This damned(African) curses. Who is this cursor anyway? And what do they need for blessings?

By: jonolan

jonolan — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:09:51 +0000

aFROSTatarian,

That “son of a Kenyan” has completely abandoned his Kenyan family – even though he was as is in a position to greatly help them. Why do you place such hope in him as a symbol?

Were I to apply the laws of contagion or the laws of sympathy, I would say that the signs – if Obama is an omen – read that African Unity will come about when Africa renounces itself and its culture. That’s a sad thought.

*smirk* Just a reminder – we’re not ALL Christians over here in the US.

By: aFROSTatarian

aFROSTatarian — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:31:20 +0000

Cursed? No. Not even close. I have seen the most powerful country in the world be united behind the son of a Kenyan. The signs are there to be read..African Unity is inevitable. The effect of those who were inspired by this years elections is yet to be seen. The bar has been set so high that anything less is going to be unacceptable

By: jonolan

jonolan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:52:31 +0000

As I said, IBé , I wish you and your all the luck and blessings possible. I’m just not very hopeful.

Fortunately, I don’t have to be hopeful since I don’t live there and rarely work there these days. You and yours on the other need to be hopeful in order to prosper. Just don’t let hope cloud your vision of the dirty work that will be needed for it to be realized.

By: IBé

IBé — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:41:56 +0000

Exactly, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. And yes, recent trends seem to be pointing that way. But just because everybody around you is walking naked doesn’t mean you should take your cloths off too.
The only thing those countries you mentioned have going for them is the fact that they are in Europe. And only eurocentrism could rank them in any world above Third. Same thing for former Soviet Union states. I’m trying to think of a possible they-turn-out-better story for countries created from breaking one…and I can’t think of any. But then look at what what happened when Europeans came together.

Again like I said in my original post, I understand your point. But spliting up as a solution will just net us more bad stories. Trust me if you create an all Kikuyu nation with all the characteristics of a failing state, people will still fight. Only this time they will use being from different towns and neighborhoods as the excuse. There is more to play in African countries that ethnic differences. That is just the easy scapegoat talking heads larch on. “Kikuyu vs. Lua” makes a better headline than “Poor Kenyas are rioting because of massive unemployment and income desparities.”

By: jonolan

jonolan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:54:15 +0000

Good luck with that, IBé . Truly and sincerely, I wish you the absolute best of luck. You’ll need it if recent world history is any factual indicator.

Ethnic national Schism:

1 – Czechoslovakia – Czech Republic & Slovakia

2 – Yugoslavia – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia

Externally imposed borders don’t seem to work in the long term for people once the external controlling forces are removed.

You’re right though in thinking that smaller states would also not be a good thing – unless something similar to the EU could be developed.

By: IBé

IBé — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:48:14 +0000

Sorry, I had to get that off my chest ASAP. Now a response to the actual post:

YES!!!!!!!!!! There is nothing like the organic! The fruit is all the sweeter when you plant the seed yourself. Indeed, if we are going to make it to the “first world” we must will it to existence ourself. And yes Africa is going to need ALL her children if we are to ever match forward to that bright future of an African day! I know this will come to be.

I believe very little; but at the top of that list is the firm belief in the sheer will and strenght of the African. Not many lives to tell about what recent history has dealt us. But we did. I lament on the question as to whether we are cursed or not, but I don’t believe for a moment we are. And even if it were so, if any man can find his way back to salvation from damnation, it is the African!
Let’s come together, not apart. We need a West Africa state, not another Eritrea.

By: IBé

IBé — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:26:14 +0000

I understand what Jonolan is saying, but if there is one thing I want to delete from our collective conciousness is exactly that. True, modern African countries are made up of many different ethnic groups (that perhaps have hardly gotten along), but so what? Same thing in many other countries all over the world. The solution is not for us to split along ethnic lines. There is no bright future in today’s world for small states. Look, why did the European come together under the EU umbrella? They realized individually there are no match for the US, China and the likes, but together they are now the largest economy in the world.
Basically, you can not right a wrong with a wrong. We need to figure it out, work it out for the sake of our children. As it stands I think Africa is 52 countries too many. And anything beyond 53 is simply CRAZY and does all but seal our fate to a doom state.