milestones

you may be wondering why i am currently doing a dance of joy...it's because of this:

Rwanda was named today as the world's top business reformer, measured by the changes the country has made over the past year to make doing business there easier. And Mauritius retained its top ranking as the African country in which it is easiest to do business. The two countries are named as top performers in the annual report on the ease of doing business published by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank. "It now takes a Rwandan entrepreneur just two procedures and three days to start a business," said a statement issued by the IFC and the World Bank. "Imports and exports are more efficient, and transferring property takes less time thanks to a reorganized registry and statutory time limits. Investors have more protection, insolvency reorganization has been streamlined, and a wider range of assets can be used as collateral to access credit." Rwanda's ranking was based on the number and impact of reforms introduced in the year to May 2009.

woo hoo! brilliant news for a people that have worked so hard to rebuild and redefine.

source: allAfrica.com
image source

milestones

soul food: maxwell returns

the interwebs is all a-buzz and a-twitter with news of maxwell's return.


i'm a little late to the party, actually, seeing as i've been awaiting said return (and declaring it to the world) for two years, now. i don't want to get too excited before i actually have an album in my hands. it's been ten years since his last release, and the wait has been a bit disheartneing, with all the false starts and announcements that never came to fruition. or that offered only mere glimpses of what was to come. the tour he embarked upon last year was brilliant, i hear. but it was merely a series of youtube clips for me, so--really--it's all about the album, kids. i want to buy it. and listen to it. with awesome headphones. while reading the liner notes and absent mindedly doodling 'negrita hearts max 4eva/mrs negrita max' on my trapper keeper. so i'm going to hold off all excitement until then.

that being said, who am i not to herald the official return!!?? made official, i suppose, by his appearance tonight on BET's 106&Park. there have been sneak previews, though. earlier in the month, maxwell tweeted a link to the full song 'pretty wings'...the snippet of which fans have been listening loyally to for over a year on his myspace page. and last week, he tweeted a series of titles which, as Vivrant Thang pointed out, must be the track list for the first album in the trilogy. i had noticed the same series of titles, but much earlier in the year, and wondered if that was a preview of what was to come. for me, however, the real comeback was the BET Awards perfomance:

so...despite the long wait...i am beyond excited.

tonight, maxwell debuts his first single, 'pretty wings' from his black summer's night trilogy.

watch it stream live at 6pm EST on http://www.musze.com/

(yes, i'm staying up to watch it.)

(no, i feel no shame.)

listen to it here:


(via dembycratic)

i don't know...just as i felt with sade's comeback...it's like he never left.

Currently listening:

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
By Maxwell
Release date: 1996-04-02

soul food: maxwell returns

the justice myth

International Justice a Myth
The New Times (Kigali)
EDITORIAL
18 November 2008
Posted to the web 18 November 2008 Kigali

It's now over a week since the Director of State Protocol, Rose Kabuye was arrested and detained in Germany. And in all this time, just a handful of countries have condemned this terrible act and abuse of Rwandans.

While Barack Obama was making history as the first African American President, the Europeans were thinking of a petty version of their own; arresting a government official entitled to full diplomatic immunity.

Probably, a first in history, too.

One might be tempted to forgive France, given its terrible history as far as foreign relations, especially with African states, are concerned. However, it's harder to fathom Germany, which has a holocaust in its history and the rest of the so called Developed countries that are just watching as such grave injustice takes place.

Renowned scholar and historian, Professor Ali Mazrui, once said of France, as always attempting to create other 'Frances' in the countries it occupies.
That the French will have no problem with anyone or any country as long as French mannerisms are adopted. A deviation in these mannerisms is faced with unimaginable brutality.

Algeria and Rwanda have once suffered France's brutality. The French attempted to totally destroy their 'little France' in Algeria as they fled the country in its fight for independence.

The 1994 Tutsi Genocide is another horrible testimony of the lengths France will go to to mete its revenge. It's actually very brave of Djibouti to consider taking up English as another of its official languages. France must be seething.

All this time, the developed nations and 'super powers' kept at arms' length; preferring not to meddle in France's affairs. One then is forced to wonder about this reality of International Justice and like President Paul Kagame, one believe it's a myth.

The only way this myth will be undone is by all nations that believe in International Justice speaking and acting strongly against what Germany and France have done; arresting a diplomat, liberator, mother and innocent woman, Rose Kabuye.

Copyright © 2008 The New Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

the justice myth

just what we need

US to get Africa command centre

President George W Bush has approved a Pentagon plan for a command centre for Africa to oversee US military activities on the continent.
"This new command will strengthen our security co-operation with Africa," President Bush said.
Mr Bush said he had asked Defence Secretary Robert Gates to get the new command, known as Africom, up and running by the end of September 2008.
He said the US would consult African leaders on the command's base.
Mr Gates said the new Africa Command would allow the US to better co-ordinate action and counter potential threats.
The US gets more than 10% of its oil from Africa and is worried about increased economic and diplomatic competition from China, the BBC's defence and security correspondent Rob Watson reports.
There are also a variety of US security and humanitarian concerns ranging from the potential rise of militant Islam to the threat of failed states and the spectre of future genocides, our correspondent says.
The Pentagon has voiced concern about potential threats, including terrorist threats that could emerge in war-torn areas such as Somalia.
US forces carried out at least two air strikes in Somalia last month, targeting suspected al-Qaeda militants.
Africa Command would be the fifth regional operations base for the US.
Unlike other regional US commands, the Africa command will not be about preparing troops for major combat operations, as no African nation poses a direct military threat.
Rather, US officials say, it will focus on military training operations designed to help local governments.

'Outdated arrangement'

Responsibility for Africa operations is currently divided among three regional commands.
It was unclear whether the new command centre would be located in Africa or the United States, as are the US Central Command, the Southern Command, and the Pacific Command.
The US currently has an anti-terror task force based in Djibouti.
Mr Gates revealed the new plans as he addressed the Senate Armed Services Committee on the defence spending President Bush proposed in his 2008 budget, submitted to Congress on Monday.
"This command will enable us to have a more effective and integrated approach than the current arrangement... an outdated arrangement left over from the Cold War," Mr Gates said.
He said the Africa command centre would "oversee security, co-operation, building partnership capability, defence support to non-military missions, and, if directed, military operations".

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6336063.stm

i'm too disgusted and tired to write anything about this right now. "building partnership capability" sure are some fancy words for outright military occupation! hello, colonialism...welcome back.

Currently listening : The Dusty Foot Philosopher

By K'naan

just what we need

it's come to this

Botha, the face of apartheid, is dead

Mail Foreign Desk Last updated at 12:46pm on 1st November 2006

South Africa's last hardline apartheid ruler died last night at the age of 90. PW Botha led the country for 11 years, first as prime minister and then as president, until he stepped down in 1989.
His death, at the Western Cape home he shared with his second wife Barbara, puts paid to any hope that he might stand trial for human rights abuses committed during his leadership.

Botha had refused to testify before the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was set up to investigate human rights abuses and force perpetrators to account for their actions. His ill health saved him from prosecution for non-cooperation.
However in a surprising twist, Nelson Mandela paid tribute to the former South African Preident who is remembered for doggedly refusing to release Mandela from prison for battling white rule.
"While to many Mr Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country," Mandela said today.

Nicknamed 'The Great Crocodile', Mr Both was an abrasive and controversial figure. In his last interview, he dismissed the idea of a 'rainbow nation' in which all races could exist in harmony. He described the ANC-led government's policy of affirmative action to help disadvantaged blacks as a 'bad form of apartheid'.
A farmer's son from the Afrikaaner heartland of the Orange Free State, Botha first became active in politics in 1936 as an organiser for the National Party, aged 19. He won a seat in parliament in 1948.

As defence minister from 1966 to 1978 he managed to get round the international arms embargo and oversaw a massive increase in the defence budget.When he became prime minister in 1978 he embarked on a number of reforms, including bringing an end to the ban on inter-racial relationships. These limited measures were, however, seen merely as an attempt to assuage hostile world opinion and retain the white minority's monopoly on power. For many South Africans Botha will be remembered more for his brutal suppression of political opposition.

Human rights groups estimate that up to 30,000 people were held without trial during the repeated states of emergency he ordered between 1986 and 1989. He was ousted as National Party leader by FW de Klerk in September 1989. De Klerk went on to release ANC leader Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa's next - and first black - ruler.
________________________________________________________
my first reaction: *singing* ding, dong, the witch is dead/the wicked witch is deaaaaad!
second reaction: i really shouldn't rejoice, outwardly or otherwise, in ANYONE's death, should i.
third reaction: whatever. his time had come. and what's this bullshit "about the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in [South Africa]"?? perhaps mandela is privy to information that i am not. cuz that smells like bullshit to me.
fourth and final reaction: why do these guys (mobutu, milosevic, botha) always die of natural causes before i get my chance to haul them into court for gross human rights violations!!??

Currently listening : Groove Theory

By Groove Theory

it's come to this