Rastafari Speaks Interactive

Will President Obama Finally Bury King Leopold's Ghost?

by Peter Erlinder
November 18, 2008
CommonDreams.org

November 2008 was the 100-year anniversary of the Congo's conversion from the personal property of Belgian King Leopold II to a colonial possession of Belgium, itself. The King's brutal rule, documented in Leopold's Ghost, embarrassed the Belgians into switching "landlords" in 1908, but did little to ease the colonial burden on the Congolese people.

Between the European powers Berlin meeting that divided up Africa in 1885 and 1908, Belgium's Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself while an estimated 10-million Congolese died. Even more died before Congo finally got its independence on June 30, 1960. But, real independence has never arrived in the Congo, and foreign military and economic powers still control its destiny today! In 2008, Leopold's "Ghost" has been replaced by the United States and the United Kingdom, and surrogate-armies led by Rwanda's Paul Kagame and Uganda's Yoweri Musveni, as documented by reports commissioned by the UN Security Council more than 5 years ago....that the U.S. press has studiously ignored.

A Leftist Looks at the Near Future

Moving Beyond Hope

By Ron Jacobs
November 11, 2008
counterpunch.org

I can't deny the exhilaration I felt on Tuesday, November 4th when the presidential election was called for Barack Obama. When people in my working class multiethnic neighborhood started setting off firecrackers and shouting out their windows, my housemate's daughter joined them. The feelings most of us felt on knowing that the reactionary Bush regime was on its last legs were genuine emotions of hope and relief. Our job now is to turn the critical support that Obama received from many on the left into a movement that strives to return the focus of the movement away from the man and his victory and towards ending the war/occupations, etc. To do this, we must engage the issues. The most important issues are the issues of imperial war and capitalist failure. We should understand the difference between the symbolism of a black man winning the presidency of the United States and the reality of a moderate liberal free marketeer who believes that there is a war on terror and that it can be won by killing Afghanis and other people whose religion and culture are used to define them as the enemy.

Targeting Aristide in Exile

by Stephen Lendman
November 06, 2008

Elected Haiti's president in 1990. Its first ever democratically chosen one. By a sweeping two-thirds majority. Took office in February 1991. Deposed by an army-led coup in September with all the earmarks of being made-in-Washington. Returned to office in October 1994. Served until February 1996. According to Haitian law, he couldn't succeed himself. Reelect in November 2000 with 90% of the vote. Took office in February 2001. Served until February 29, 2004 when, in the middle of the night, US marines deposed him and forced him into exile.

Haiti: Racism and Poverty

By John Maxwell
October 31, 2008

The people of Haiti are as poor as human beings can be.

According to the statisticians of the World Bank and others who speculate about how many Anglos can dance on the head of a peon, Haiti may either be the second, third or fourth poorest country in the world.

In Haiti's case, statistics are irrelevant.

When large numbers of people are reduced to eating dirt – earth, clay – it is impossible to imagine poverty any more absolute, any more desperate, any more inhuman and degrading.

Human Rights Watch Exposes Hugo Chavez Yet Again

By Joe Emersberger
October 10th 2008
HaitiAnalysis.com

Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently published a 230 page report on Venezuela entitled "A Decade Under Ch�vez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela."

In a press release about the report, HRW's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco stated that "rather than advancing rights protections" the Chavez government has "moved in the opposite direction, sacrificing basic guarantees in pursuit of its own political agenda."

Racism, Obama and the Fall of the American Economy

By Fidel Castro
October 14, 2008

Trade, within a society and between countries, is the exchange of goods and services produced by human beings. The owners of the means of production appropriate the profits. As a class, they are the leaders of the capitalist state and they boast of fostering development and social wellbeing through market. This they worship as an infallible God.

In every country there is competition between the strongest and the weakest; the ones with more physical energy and better fed, those who learned how to read and write, who attended school and have more experience accumulated; the ones with more extensive social relations and more resources, and those within society who fail to have these advantages.

Reflections on Conservative Scapegoating

Racism as Reflex

By Tim Wise
September 29, 2008
counterpunch.org

If hypocrisy were currency, conservatives would be able to single-handedly bail out the nation's free-falling financial system in less than a week, without the rest of us having to front so much as a penny.

So on the one hand, folks like this always tell others--especially the poor and people of color--to take "personal responsibility" for their lives, and not to blame outside factors (like racism, or the economic system) for their problems. But on the other hand, these same persons then demonstrate that their own ability to blame others for their personal setbacks, or the nation's problems, knows no rival.

Zimbabwe: Land at Core of Western Anger

By Caesar Zvayi
September 19, 2008

IN our Shona culture, just as in any other culture, suspicion is always aroused whenever an outsider mourns more than the bereaved.

Then vanasorojena (the elders) tend to question the relationship between the mourner and the deceased and all his/her family.

Well, since the power-sharing agreement was signed by Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC on Monday, the Anglo-Saxon Alliance led by the EU and the US have been wailing like a newly-wed widow who has just been robbed of the joys of wedded bliss.

In fact, the Westerners just stopped short of rejecting the power-sharing agreement as if they are Zimbabwean citizens.

Chavez Visits South Africa and Strengthens South-South Relations

September 10, 2008
By Tamara Pearson and James Suggett
Venezuelanalysis.com

M�rida, September 3, 2008 — Hugo Chavez arrived in Pretoria, South Africa Tuesday morning with the aim of developing closer relations with Venezuela, to concretize cooperation and "to strengthen the world of the South," he said.

One of the main agreements reached was that South Africa will work with Venezuela in the Petroleum Belt of the Orinoco River. Chavez met with Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, to become the first Venezuelan president to visit South Africa. Chavez said that to step on South African land "is to reunite ourselves with the roots of our people."

In Class with Hancock

By Biko Agozino
August 28, 2008

I have just seen the box office hit movie, Hancock, with my two teenage sons and their 12 year old cousin. As usual, after seeing a movie with the kids, we engaged in debates about the representations and subtle messages in the movie. I asked the young men if they liked the film and they all agreed that it was a great film. I asked them what they liked about it and they said that Will Smith was the greatest superhero ever. Then they asked me if I liked the movie and I said no that I did not. Why not? They all asked in unison.