Very interesting read about Dictatorships in Africa and their relationship to the United States!

Wednesday, 09 July 2008
African Dictatorships and Double-Standards
Stephen Zunes

This article originally appeared in Foreign Policy In Focus

“U.S. credibility as a defender of human rights and free elections is seriously compromised.”

The Bush administration has justifiably criticized the Zimbabwean regime of liberator-turned-dictator Robert Mugabe. It has joined a unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the campaign of violence unleashed upon pro-democracy activists and calling for increased diplomatic sanctions in the face of yet another sham election. In addition, both the House and the Senate have passed strongly worded resolutions of solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in support of their struggle for freedom and democracy.

However, neither the Republican administration nor the Democratic-controlled Congress is sincerely concerned about human rights and democratic elections as a matter of principle. Rather, they are more likely acting out of political expediency. Despite claims of support for the advancement of democracy, the United States continues to support other African dictatorships that are as bad as or even worse than that of Zimbabwe.

Indeed, the United States currently provides economic aid and security assistance to such repressive African regimes as Swaziland, Congo, Cameroun, Togo, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Gabon, Egypt, and Tunisia. None of these countries holds free elections, and all have severely suppressed their political opposition.

The Worst Abuser

Among the worst of these African tyrannies has been the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang has been in power even longer than the 28-year reign of Mugabe and, according to a recent article in the British newspaper The Independent, makes the Zimbabwean dictator “seem stable and benign” by comparison. Obiang originally seized power in a 1979 coup by murdering his uncle, who had ruled the country since its independence from Spain in 1968. Under his rule, Equatorial Guinea nominally allowed the existence of opposition parties as a condition of receiving foreign aid in the early 1990s. But the four leading candidates withdrew from the last presidential election in December 2002 in protest of irregularities in the voting process and violence against their supporters. In that election, Obiang officially received more than 97% of the vote (down from 99.5% in the previous election.)

Though the U.S. State Department acknowledged that the election was “marred by extensive fraud and intimidation,” the Congress and the administration devoted none of the vehement condemnation that was so evident after the recent, similarly marred election process in Zimbabwe.

One major reason for the difference in response is oil. The development of vast oil reserves over the past decade has made Equatorial Guinea one of the wealthiest countries in Africa in terms of per capita gross domestic product. Virtually all of the oil revenues, however, goes to Obiang and his cronies. The dictator himself is worth an estimated $1 billion, making him the wealthiest leader in Africa; his real estate holdings include two mansions in Maryland just outside of Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the country’s population lives on only a few dollars a day, and nearly half of all children under five are malnourished. The country’s major towns and cities lack basic sanitation and potable water while conditions in the countryside are even worse.

“The development of vast oil reserves over the past decade has made Equatorial Guinea one of the wealthiest countries in Africa in terms of per capita gross domestic product.”

During his most recent visit to Washington in 2006, Obiang was warmly received by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who praised the dictator as “a good friend” of the United States. Not once during their joint appearance did she mention the words “human rights” or “democracy.” At the same press conference, Obiang praised his regime’s “extremely good relations with the United States” and his expectation that “this relationship will continue to grow in friendship and cooperation.” None of the assembled reporters raised any questions about the regime’s notorious human rights record or its lack of democracy, instead using the opportunity to ask Secretary Rice questions about the alleged threat from Iran.

In 2002, the dictator met with President George W. Bush in New York to discuss military and energy security issues. He followed up in 2004 with meetings with then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham.

Cozy Relations

Equatorial Guinea receives U.S. government funding and training through the International Military Education and Training Program (IMET). In addition, the private U.S. firm Military Professional Resources Incorporated - founded by former senior Pentagon officials who cite the regime’s friendliness to U.S. strategic and economic interests - plays a key role in the country’s internal security apparatus. Furthermore, as a result of Obiang’s understandable lack of trust in his own people, soldiers from Morocco - one of America’s closest African allies - have served for decades in a number of important security functions, including the role of presidential guards.

Maintaining close ties with such a notorious ruler has led even conservative Republicans like Frank Ruddy, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to Equatorial Guinea in the mid-1980s, to denounce the Bush administration for being “big cheerleaders for the government - and it’s an awful government.”

“U.S. oil companies paid hundreds of millions of dollars destined to state treasuries directly into the dictator’s private bank accounts.”

Though the Chinese have also recently begun investing in the country’s oil sector, U.S. companies ExxonMobil, Amerada Hess, Chevron/Texaco, and Marathon Oil have played the most significant role. A report by the International Monetary Fund notes that U.S. oil companies receive “by far the most generous tax and profit-sharing provisions in the region.” Congressional hearings recently revealed how U.S. oil companies paid hundreds of millions of dollars destined to state treasuries directly into the dictator’s private bank accounts. A Senate report faulted U.S. oil companies for making “substantial payments to, or entering into business ventures with,” government officials and their family members.

The irony of the relative silence of Congress and the Bush administration regarding the human rights abuses and the undemocratic nature of Obiang’s regime is that, due to the critical role of U.S. economic investment and security assistance, the United States has far more leverage on the government of Equatorial Guinea than it does on the government of Zimbabwe. As a result, Americans can feel self-righteous in their condemnation of a regime in Zimbabwe with which the United States has little leverage while continuing to support an even more repressive regime over which the United States could successfully exert pressure if it chose to do so.

This does not mean the United States should have waited until it first ends its support of Obiang and other African dictatorships before joining the rest of the international community in condemning the repression in Zimbabwe. However, as long as the United States maintains such blatant double-standards, U.S. credibility as a defender of human rights and free elections is seriously compromised and thereby plays right into the hands of autocrats and demagogues like Robert Mugabe.

Stephen Zunes is a senior analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus and a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.

Man I tell you, living in Technology world, you have to watch what you say! I mean every other week we are hearing people’s personal phone conversations, voicemails, sound bytes from closed affairs. So in the words of T.I. “Watch what you say” Brother Jackson!

I hear the infamous Bill O’Reilly will air Jackson’s comments later on this evening, I will find the youtube link and then post the comments. But let’s be serious Jesse Jackson was probably ticked off like every other black man that Barack Obama used Father’s Day as the day that he would condemn the absence of fatherhood in the black community. Black men all over the nation are irate about this because quite frankly they do not see Barack addressing other issues head on that deal with the black population.

He was not very vocal about Jena 6, his remarks were watered down when he spoke of the Sean Bell incident, he was absent from the State of the Black Union; so people feel that Obama does not have the right to condemn black fathers and not look to condemn the absence of fatherhood as a whole across racial lines. I mean that has been his strong point thus far so black men across the country were angered by Barack’s statement.

It’s not that I disagree with Obama’s statements about irresponsible fathers or that I feel he should have addressed all absentee fathers. My issue with the speech was highlighting the negative which is already known. It’s like the bad child in the classroom, they get more attention than the students who actually do their work further making those “good” students feel under-appreciated. The same can be said for fathers like mine who work two jobs to provide for their families. Men who provide for their families should be honored on father’s day and less emphasis placed on the dead beat dad’s. Let’s lift up the brothers who are doing the right thing. Maybe our selfless praise of these men will inspire the men who are not effectively handling the business of their children as fathers.

For the rest of this story click here

UPDATE: HERE IS THE CLIP

UMM Jesse “I wanna Cut His Nuts Off” umm yea I’ll let you all be the judge!

The following piece was given to us by Ma’at. When I first read this piece I was so in tune with it that all of the other noises in the background of my mind needed to be silenced. I truly hope that this piece engages us in a discourse about not only our current reality but the change which we wish to see within our reality. Peace and Grace be unto you!

THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

Rags to riches
Foreigner
Outsider to Inside
American Society
American Money
American Riches
The American Dream
Business Man
Drug Dealer
Hustler
Lawyer
Me…
See I
I too started off
Young
Hungry
Driven
Hustling
Toward the dream
My American Dream…… Esq.
So I did what anyone…everyone chasing the American Dream does
I hustled
Made those connects
Studied the greats…
The great hustlers….

Walked softly…. watched, listened, emulated
Worked my way through the system
The American system
Day in and Day out
Climbing the ladder
Shaking hands
Negotiating
Until
Until the party life…..got me
Addicted
Addicted to status
This little brown girl from Church Ave.. now regarded by society as a
member of an elite….
Better than you
Better than most
Damn that shit feels good
The high
The power..
It’s addictive
I’m penetrating you
Deeply, hard, long….
Now all you can do is say my name and hope you feel me tomorrow
How could I not fall in lust?
How could I not keep coming back?
Knowing it was starting to kill me…..

Yeah…the American Dream
My American Nightmare
Time moves….
PAUSE
I look around….I
Is this what success is all about
A bunch of bitches acting like bitches with big mouths
I’M LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM
AND YOU KNOW WHAT,……. ITS FUCKED UP
I live a life where I am a part of a machine that rapes my people
Rapes my mind
Bleaches my spirit
Makes “America” Rich
How fitting?
How fitting that the dream in this country
A COUNTRY BUILT ON THE PRINCIPLES OF DESTROYING WHAT MUST BE DESTROYED
FOR PERSONAL GAIN
Would idealize a life that destroys those who live it for the gain of
those in power
The essence of a Hustler’s Spirit….

WAKE UP!!!!

What it means to be a NIGGER

A few weeks back as I sat and watched the red carpet section of the Grammy’s I saw my fellow Virgo grace the camera with his wife donning a t-shirt that said “NIGGER”. Wait a minute rewind that back, I saw Nasir Jones better known as “Nas” and a group of supporters of different ethnicities in NIGGER Fashion. This is clearly a sign that the times have changed, television has become so liberal when I was a child they would have blurred out the image to say the least. Nas was interviewed about his “message”, there were no censors over the word and things went relatively normal. I mentioned earlier that Nas is a Virgo because they are the thinkers of the zodiac and very strategic in their movements, so maybe Nas is titling his album NIGGER and grappling after the publicity that it is causing so that we can have intelligent discourses like the one we are about to have.

Wait one second, before you lose interest in fear that I am about take you on a historical voyage enduring the plight of black people and the socialization of the term Nigger and how we need to accept it to empower ourselves, I promise you I will not. This is not the typical discussion of whether this is a term of endearment or mental slavery. But to understand what I am interested in the concept of the term nigger we must first look to one of the great writers of the Harlem Renaissance, James Baldwin.

Baldwin says, “What white people have to do is try to find out in their own hearts why it was necessary to have a nigger in the first place. Because I’m not a nigger, I’m a man! But if you think I’m a nigger it means you need it. If I’m not the nigger here and you, the white people invented him then you’ve got to find out why?”

Baldwin paints us such a vivid picture when he speaks about the system needing a nigger. You see the term nigger is about an institutionalized inferiority complex. The system, those proponents of white supremacy need a nigger to belittle, they need a nigger to make themselves feel better than because they lack self-esteem. The nigger is needed in order to perpetuate systems of control, a hierarchy within this great land from sea to shining sea. Unfortunately today the term nigger has become synonymous with black people. However this is not the case, this is not the fate of black people; this has been the position of various ethnic groups in America. I will chronicle the stories of three niggers who have been bastardized by a system of oppression and blatant racism in this country without ever painting the picture of a black face!

If you are of Middle Eastern decent, or even look like you could possibly be of the Islamic faith after 9/11, I regret to inform you but the United States has declared you a NIGGER! Your rights were stripped from you; you became the victims of police brutality, random searches and seizure, and you are always pulled aside at the airport for more questioning. Why is this; because you fit the “description”, you look suspicious? But none of this is true; it is merely the pigment of your skin and the religious affiliation that you are suspected of practicing which garners you such attention. You watch your faith and belief system ridiculed daily on television, you have become the butt of all jokes. You’re fearful when your children go to school because other children will torment them; forgive them for they know not what they do. You came to this country with hopes of reaching the American dream however you are now living the American nightmare! The ultimate insult is no longer to be black but it is to be Muslim. Your beautiful, peaceful culture has been tainted by slander; you are now judged by the few who make it tough for the many. Welcome!

Rewind the clocks back before the Civil Rights Era, after the Red Scare, where if you were communist you were a nigger. No I am speaking of World War II, a defining moment in this country’s history where we joined forces with our allies overseas and toppled the Axis Powers who viciously slaughtered those of the Jewish faith and anyone else in their quest for world domination. Let us look into our backyard at today’s most successful minority, looked upon as intelligent, reserved, model citizens of this great nation; the Asian. Yes in 1942 here in America the Japanese were considered NIGGERS! Stripped of their land, businesses, and personal possessions, some 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced into relocation centers in the interiors of the country. Placed in prison camps with little to no food to eat, cramped living quarters for large families were just some of the conditions the Japanese had to experience. Propaganda spread through the media about the Japs as they were called, “good riddance to the spy’s and traitors”, these were some of the messages about the people who had only a few years prior been trying to assimilate into American culture. They too were in search of the roads paved of gold. White farmers benefited with the Japanese farmers gone, they were then able to take over their profit share and make more revenue for themselves. Even the Supreme Court of the United States permitted this racist behavior citing this exclusion did not violate the constitution arguing “it is permissible to curtail the civil rights of a racial group when there is a “pressing public necessity.” So much for Justice!

Who discovered America? Oh yes I remember we have a beautiful holiday in this country named after none other than Americas most beautiful thief, rapist, and oppressor among other names. Yes I am speaking of Columbus, when we discuss the concept of the nigger we have to speak about our beloved Columbus. You see the Indian; wait a minute what am I saying, Native Americans is the correct term because this is their native land. When we think of all the horrific things done to black people during chattel slavery our bodies quiver with fear. However, we forget that the Native American watched his woman be raped, and his family die from sickness brought by the Europeans. He watched his people become addicted to substances, his name was changed, and not just his name but also his ethnicity. To this day we call Native Americans Indians because of a mistake that an idiot made. We keep this mistake going forth, Native Americans call themselves Indians even; similar to how African Americans call themselves nigger, they have embraced the term. Last but certainly not least the Native American was robbed of his land and certainly his culture. The history that they created prior to imperialism has long been erased and they are forced to live on reservations of land and lay dependent on the powers that be. Americas first experimentation with this Nigger concept was and is still in fact the Native American!

So many Niggers over the years, and I use this term loosely for this piece in hopes to articulate the construction of an underclass. That is what it is to be a nigger. Similar to the Untouchables in India, the term nigger is rooted in not only a need for superiority but a mindset entrenched in socio-economic slavery. The ability to legally strip people of the inalienable rights that our Constitution provides for them speaks not only to a power struggle but a constant reminder of who the boss is and what can happen if the system was ever to be questioned. The term Nigger, the concentration camps, the nooses, all of these symbols are objectifiable and measurable elements of what it means to be inferior but deeper than inferiority one must know their place. You see in 2050 the white majority will actually be the minority yet they need not worry because the hegemony and institutionalized racism have made all of the niggers fearful and afraid to jolt the status quo. Nigger is a term of fear; it’s a bastardizing moment in an ethnicities history that emotionally, physically, and mentally scars the people. This fear that is instilled takes over the mind yet keeps the body, the nigger is still used for their talents but their mind will never forget that moment and how much they never want to experience such a moment again.

Malcolm X once said “If you are a citizen, why do you have to fight for your civil rights, if you’re fighting for your civil rights that means you’re not a citizen”. Niggers are not citizens, at least for the time in which they are apart of the social construct of the term. That is why the Supreme Court allowed the Japanese to be placed in internment camps, that is why we allow our media and public officials of the law to bastardize the Islamic faith. That is why Native Americans are still relegated to plots of land on reservations in a country that they once owned and were illegally dispossessed of this land. So next tie you hear the term NIGGER, or you go out and purchase the upcoming album NIGGER by Nas, be aware that this term has nothing to do with a specific group of people and more to do with a concept of how to control different groups of people. How to make one fearful, and how to make another group feel superior thus always limiting the power of one and expanding upon the power of the other.

Say it ain’t so Mr. Clinton. Say it ain’t so Bill. Bill is smarter than this, I simply will not believe it, LOL!

OBAMA YES WE CA, SI SE PUEDE!

Mr Obama is expected to speak to Mr Clinton for the first time since he won the nomination in the next few days, but campaign insiders say that the former president’s future campaign role is a “sticking point” in peace talks with Mrs Clinton’s aides.

“It’s time for him to get over it or go off and do his charitable work. He knows the rules of the road. What’s going on now is kind of strange. I think his behavior is really, really shocking.”

click here for article

I’m wondering if there is any real crime in Flint. Ofcourse I know the answer is to this question is yes so then the next question becomes  “do the cops in Flint not have more to worry about than the harm of saggy jeans”. Who hires these idiots, everyday people are being murdered, raped and a host of other violent crimes and you want to harrass people who wear their pants sagging.

It’s indecent and immoral, ok I hear you but what about the drugs being sold on the streets of Flint, the armed robberies, crimes that actually affect the well being of our communities. Make those crimes your priority not saggy jeans which is no more than a tacky fashion statement that I myself used to partake in.

Unless the real reason behind this saggy jeans thing is more remniscent of the broad view of racial profiling. The broad definition allows that you utilize race and other factors; ie. geography, dress, location, age and other factors to profile certain individuals. People who don the style of baggy, saggy jeans are more likely than not, young black males so this would give the police ammunition to approach young black males. Why? Because they fit the description and by wearing these saggy jeans, they are breaking the law.

So maybe the police chief has bigger hopes in mind. Maybe while taking these young black men off the streets for such a petty crime they will find drugs or some type of other criminal activity afoot during their harassment of these males. Just something to ponder!

Michigan police chief: Wear saggy pants, get arrested Flint’s top cop calls it ‘immoral self-expression,’ but others fear racial implications By BRYN MICKLE Newhouse News Service Published on: 06/27/08

This city’s new police chief is saying no to crack.

Interim Flint Police Chief David R. Dicks announced this week that officers will begin arresting people wearing pants or shorts that sag too low, exposing rear ends. “This immoral self-expression goes beyond free speech,” Dicks said in a statement released Thursday.”It rises to the crime of indecent exposure/disorderly persons.

” It’s a style that irks many — a few cities nationwide have outlawed the rear-revealing pants (the Atlanta City Council proposed a ban amid much debate, but the plan was ultimately tabled). However, the order also raises serious questions about how it would be enforced, whether it disproportionately targets young black men and whether ultra-low riders should be considered constitutionally protected.

Is Dicks going too far?

Greg Gibbs, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Flint, said how people wear their clothing is a form of expression but cautions that not all of those forms are protected by the Constitution.

“The issue is: Does it violate the First Amendment?” Gibbs asked.

Some Flint residents are all for busting those who go bottoms out. “It’s overdue,” said Sam Berry, 73, of Flint.

Gwendolyn R. Allen, 72, of Flint agreed: “It’s so disgusting … It’s disgraceful.” Claude Carter, 49, of Flint sees the issue differently, though. He said wearing pants in that manner is a fad — not a crime. “I see young and old wearing their pants that way,” said Carter. The crackdown on buttocks is an apparent response to “significant” complaints from citizens, according to Dicks. Under the chief’s orders, any sworn officer who sees “sagging/exposing buttocks” will have probable cause to make an arrest under the city’s disorderly person ordinance — a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine and three months in jail.

Flint NAACP President Frances Gilcreast is no fan of the style but worries about police focusing on young black men.

“My concern is how (the policy) will be applied equitably,” Gilcreast said. Some Flint police officers, however, aren’t too sure how they will enforce it. “What about ‘plumber’s crack’?” said Keith Speer, president of the Flint Police Officers Association. In the past, Speer said, officers would issue warnings if too much skin was showing but reserved the handcuffs for full moons. “Most of the time, if they’re wearing sagging pants, they’re also wearing boxers,” he said. Memo notwithstanding, Speer doesn’t expect any big changes in how officers handle the issue. “It’s like issuing a memo telling officers to enforce the law,” Speer said. “Are we going to get a memo every time somebody complains?”

“I’m a Jehovah’s Witness, so I don’t get involved in politics. We stay neutral. We don’t vote,” she said. “So I’m not going to necessarily go out and vote for him. I would if it wasn’t for my religion.”

I am not too familiar with being a Jehova’s Witness but I appreciate that she takes her faith seriously. I would be interested if anyone knows, why they are not allowed to vote?

When the news shuts off

When the news shuts off
All the problems of the world fade away
No more thinking about
Blacks vs. browns and the war in LA
Dead mothers and sons
Resting back in Iraq
When the news shuts off
We’re not worried about that

When the news shuts off
All the problems of the world fade away
Remember hurricane Katrina
Oh I guess now all them people are ok
But I know that they’re not
But unfortunately this breaking news report
Isn’t about them and its not about you
It’s about the news and what sells to me and you
And what sells is only destruction
Framed as truth through blatant lies
I was a media major
Trust I see through their disguise

When the news shuts off
All the problems of the world fade away
Genocide what
In Darfur
NO WAY
Well why not ced
There’s people there dying everyday
I say no way
Because the news won’t tell me
And we the people
Of this united states
Love it
You know why
Because it doesn’t affect our day
Well turn the corporate news off
Turn your consciousness light on
It’s not a black or white thing
We’re all weathered through the storm

So when the news turns off
You’ve already been informed
That action is now
The news is for entertainment …. later on

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Psalm 34: 15-20

Heaven!!!!!!! Talking bout heaven right here on earth. Stairway to heaven!!! Come on get ya shower sing on. You didn’t know I was in select chorus did you! Yessir, I was supposed to get the solo in 7th grade but they felt bad for another student. Alright I may be stretching the truth but I think I was supposed to get a solo. But here I am singing this oldie but goodie sending out this late message. Today’s C is the counselor. Often when we think of counselors we imagine that someone has a problem, that things are bad. However it may just be that a second opinion can make a world of difference.

None of us are meant to live this life alone and I am thankful for those in my life who I would call a counselor. Whether they are listening while I vent during tough times or just opening my eyes to something even greater during good times these people are essential because they help us grow. We get counsel from the Lord through prayer. His counsel may not come through your SPEAKERBOXX however it may come in the form of other people who were sent to guide you a certain way. It may come through a gut feeling or what have you. The point is the Lord is our redeemer, our ever present counselor. In fact I have found myself at times shying away from counsel because I was scared of what it would bring. All that does is cause more confusion within my spirit. I am thankful for the counselors in my life, as I’m sure you are too. Peace and Grace be unto you!

To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.