Twelve years after ground was first broken on an oil pipeline between Chad and Cameroon, the documentary film, Quel Souvenir explores the impact of this World Bank sponsored project on local communities from inland Chad to the Cameroonian coast. While the World Bank and oil companies like Exxon and Chevron promised local development along the lines of clean drinking water, school buildings and electricity, the filmmakers find displaced farmers, environmental degradation and local communities left in a state of disarray. Demonstrating a “cautionary tale” of a so-called well intentioned development project gone wrong, the film walks the thin line between presenting the talking heads who can speak to the context and politics of the situation, and everyday farmers, fishermen and families that live day to day with the consequences of the project. The film is currently in its final stages of post-production. Last summer I saw a rough cut of the film here New York City and asked the director Danya Abt (DA) if I could interview her. Together with one of the film’s executive producers, Valéry Nodem (VN), they answered my questions. Before we get to the questions and answers, here’s the trailer. [Read more...]
An interview with the makers of ‘Quel Souvenir,’ a film about an oil pipeline between Chad and Cameroon
NBA player Serge Ibaka has no country
Last year we pointed to the fact that sports commentators, statisticians and journalists can’t distinguish the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC) from its neighbor the Republic of Congo every time they talk about NBA basketball player Serge Ibaka. He was born in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, normally referred to as Congo-Brazzaville, not the DRC or what used to be known as Zaire (until 1997) and now commonly referred to by its initials or as Congo-Kinshasa. The only thing the two countries share is a river: the Congo (yeh, that river which Conrad fictionalized). Earlier this week Deadspin, the American sports blog, pointed out that ESPN lists Ibaka’s birthplace as “Brazzaville, Zaire.” At least they know that Zaire still existed when Ibaka was born in 1989. But again it is the wrong country. Today I noticed they just deleted his country and his birthplace is now only listed as “Brazzaville.” So now he has no country.
The Daily Beast and Egypt’s art revolution
Last month the Daily Beast decided that Cairo had lost its voice. It’s a political insurrection (or something), not a commercial for cough medicine. One suspects this means the sound of the traffic heard by the correspondent from on taxi journeys between the airport, hotel, meetings, dinner and airport. What about the suburbs which corral the city? This is a commonplace for writing about cities in developing countries; the overwhelming noise of the city, this truism dictates, has deprived its inhabitants the self-expression you see in the hushed sanctuary of a Western metropolis. Writing about the Arab Spring often conveniently forgets that cities in America and the UK have witnessed an array of diverse and innovative acts of police aggression against protesters. [Read more...]
Documenting Tuberculosis
Last week, the Lens Blog of the New York Times featured a post about Misha Friedman, a photojournalist documenting the epidemic of tuberculosis in Eastern Europe & Central Asia. In 2009, 1.7 million people died from TB globally, including 380,000 people living with HIV. According to the World Health Organization, the majority of deaths were in Africa. [Read more...]
Pay young women in Malawi to prevent HIV infection?
The Guardian reports: “Cash payments help cut HIV infection rate in young women, study finds: Research in Malawi finds girls who receive regular payments are able to resist attentions of older men and avoid infection.” The headline pretty much says it all … or does it?
In Praise of the South African Constitution
US Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently praised the South African Constitution making process–over that of the United States–as an example that could be instructive for a post-revolution Egypt. Ginsburg’s comments, in a wide-ranging interview with Egypt’s Al-Hayat TV, in which she repeatedly praised her country’s Constitution, have sparked outrage among tea-partying right-wing pundits in the US. [Read more...]
Financial Times blues
I read The Financial Times because they cover the news that is essential to capital and those who rule us. For example, last week, while the occasional story about South Africa online is either about Die Antwoord’s performance on David Letterman (awkward), Julius Malema’s disciplinary hearing (I thought we were done with him) or who was wearing what at President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address (what did he say?), the FT focuses on what really matters: What is the South African ruling party thinking about doing to the mining industry. They’ve had at least 2 stories last week from their Johannesburg correspondent Andrew England on the subject and an editorial on Friday. Though the stories and editorial are full of deliberate biases and timely leaks, the long and short of it is that, despite Malema’s rhetoric, the ANC is ruling out nationalization and instead is thinking about “ways in which mining profits can be redistributed more fairly.” This includes “a resource rent tax of 50 per cent.” (The FT approves of course.) That said, there’s something I don’t get about the FT: its op-ed or “Comment” page.
Rick Ross is the boss
For some odd reason the latest issue of The New Yorker ran a profile of rapper Rick Ross. Lots of good, clever writing by Sasha Frere Jones on familiar controversies about Ross (for example, Frere Jones calls Ross out for lying about his real life drug dealer exploits; show me the rapper who doesn’t make things up) and gratuitous breakdown of Ross’ mostly misogynistic lyrics. The oddest part was where the magazine encourages its readers to go and listen to Ross’s music on the New Yorker website. (Just imagine the reader.) Anyway, it reminded me of the two-part “vlog” (video blog) that Ross’s people produced of his late 2011 trips to South Africa and Gabon. That’s part one above. It’s a full 9 minutes of product placement, driving cars, scenes from a casino, screaming fans and Ross occasionally reminding people of his surroundings (“Johannesburg … one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been”). Here’s part 2, still “South Africa Vlog Part 2″ but which is really about his trip to Gabon and him talking about the chicken pasta Kenya Airways served him (“that was love”) and how he thought Kilamanjaro was the name for weed.
50 Cent goes to Somalia
So rapper 50 Cent (accompanied by American journalists) was in Somalia and Kenya this week to visit people living in refugee camps displaced by the civil war with Islamic militants. Expect lots of ’50 in Somalia’ reports on US television. 50 Cent, who joins a long line of celebrities helping Africans (he is being touted as the 21st century celebrity humanitarian already) handed out food and danced with the children. He also had enough time to pose for what looks like a movie poster shot with children (above) and a soldier (below), and to promote his energy drink Street King. If his Facebook page receives 1 million “likes” by Sunday, 50 will donate an additional one million meals. And he’ll sell more Street King in the process. We’ve also learned something about Somalia in the process.
[Read more...]
Shameless Self Promotion
Two Africa is a Country contributors–Neelika Jayawardane and Kathryn Mathers–have pieces in the latest issue of Transition, the Harvard creative writing magazine. That’s the cover above with the theme “Blending Borders.” Neelika’s article “Everybody’s got their Indian,” (you need a subscription) is on racial politics in postapartheid South Africa. Though she’s been meaning to write about this topic for a while, I know this visit to South Africa let to the piece. Kathryn’s has a similarly provocative title, “Mr Kristof, I Presume.” (Hers you can read in full. The link takes you a PDF of the article.) Here, before you click away, is the first page of Kathryn’s article: [Read more...]
