Havent been posting lately
Going through one of my recurrent blues about the time and effort
this thing requires versus lack of readership and respect for all the work I put into it
and all my other organizing efforts
In fact did a whining post called Rickydoc Has Got The Blues that I may or may not post.
You know the routine- no respect.
But be that as it may, I got to get back in the saddle.
I will put some rough material in off the top of my head and clean it up later.
Part of my problem right along here is that the semester is closing down
and Im anxious to go into the woodshed and finish this damned novel
(or rather a turn-in-able draft thereof)
Im supposed to be doing my morning novelwork this morning
and I dont have time to really focus on this.
Just finished teaching John Edgar Wideman's Cattle Killing for the fourth time probably
and just this time felt like I really understood what he did with that book
what he is saying about visions and prophets and stories and literary things
how he tried to manifest an African African narrative and text
probably influence my own narrative attempts in rest for the weary
whose main character is a storyteller
so many things im trying to do hes already done
and done mighty damn fine
But then ive felt that way about so many folk i teach in that class
Ishmael and gayle jones, the guy who wrote texaco and etc
afroam folk trying to forge an african american literary language
an African American text and Text.
And its clear to me that for roostblog
Im inclined to longer pieces and, even more, iconoclastic literary pieces,
something worth the time invested, something that might have a little stamina.
make the literary cut
Ive also noted that most of my readership comes from folk putting in topics to search engines
and if they come to rootsblog I want to give them substantive exploration of the topic
instead of these little fragments.
But who got time to keep doing for free what other folk get paid to do when I got
novelwork to get done.
I feel like Trinidad Rio, the Free Show Kaiso King.
I think what I will try to do is make my myself master of certain topics.
Like the situation in Darfur, that is really bugging me,
I will keep an eye on that and hopefully set myself (and rootsblog) up as an authority
the place to come for the most up to date info.
I got some other ideas too,
always trying to figure out how to get the best ideological bang for time invested.
For the next few months though Im in the woodshed
and will probably be sporadic.
So Ima just riff off the top of my head right now,
I will fill in the blanks and the links later
Genocide in Darfur
Another ceasefire, the third or fourth since the rebels took up arms in February
against the government in Khartoum.
As always race and religion play a part in most any Sudanese conflict
with the Arab/Islamic government oppressing the Black tribes
of the Sudan.
In the case of the South, these tribes are often ATR (African Traditional Religion) or Christian
the tribes of the Darfur though are Islamic,
the factor affecting them is that they are Black
its a tricly little dynamic
This policy has not only used the armed forces of the Sudan, it has also armed and
unleashed Janjaweed Arab militias in a program of ethnic cleansing.
a historical pattern of conflict between African farmers and Arab raiders
that has resulted in African slavery for some centuries now.
This conflict has progressed pretty much below the global radar
Much of this new attention has been the doing of Kofi Annan who used the 10th anniversery
of the Rwandan Genocide to put a spotlight on the genocide in the Sudan
George Bush made a comment about the unacceptability of genocide in the Sudan
but you cant take anything he says seriously
its like they feed him a list of new slogans every month and he mouths them until he gets some new ones
right now his only response to the Iraqi crises is to run around saying 'We're plenty tough"
Chad has been under pressure of caring for thousands of refugees and being subjected
to cross border raids and bombings by Sudanese forces.
There are reports that the Chadian army has moved tanks and troops to the border and there was a reported clash between Chad and the Sudan.
This ceasefire is not expected to hold. The genocide in the Sudan is expected to continue.
The Naked Emperor: AWOL AGAIN
During the most problematic week in his war in Iraq, folk dying on every hand behind missteps by the American Occupational forces, George Bush is kicking back on vacation in Texas. Just like he was when he was told that Bin Laden was going to strike in the August 6th memo that they tried their best to keep secret.
George Bush is not a serious man. He is the most vacation happy President ever. And clearly even when hes in Washington hes not all there. He cant even go before the commission without Cheney to hold his hand. These are some trying times and we cant afford to have that fool in command.
The Black Radical Congress recently polled their members on whether they should participate in the coming election and the majority of them rejected Fundamentalist Purity. Will wonders never cease. (Very pertinent issues raised regarding how to leverage the energies of the coming election in favor of systematic change.)
But everybody knows we got to send the Naked Emperor on a permanent vacation to Crawford. You feel like we still got the space to mend all the things hes broken if we beat him in November but another four years of George Bush, this time with a real mandate, and heaven help us all.
And all this flack about whether they should hold on to the June 30 transfer of sovereignty is a joke. Everybody knows that is just going to be a symbolic transfer to some puppet government with no change in the Occupation status or troop mission.
Bushs latest slogan is something about how the Iraqi insurgents just dont understand Freedom and we do and thats why theres a conflict. On the contrary, clearly they do understand Freedom and they know that whatever America is talking about is not it.
There was an article in todays Los Angeles Times (Nov. 11th) that glowingly talked about how religious George Bush is, how he wakes up every morning and reads a passage from the Bible and how that passage affects his political decisions. The article talked about how good it was that George Bush saw this conflict as a clash of religions.
Great. Thats all we need, our fundamentalists against their fundamentalists.
ATR Institutionalization: Its a Mad Mad World
I read an article recently about how many Rwandans were switching over to Islam
because the Catholic Church often turned them over to the Hutu extremists
during the Rwandan genocide 10 years ago
And I thought about how indicative that is of ATRs weakness even and perhaps especially in Africa when the competition is between Islam and Christanity and ATR is not even in the running.
And how this comes from ATRs refusal to include the political and the institutional
its determination to remain exclusively spiritual
and how ATR keeps losing ground to the aggressor religions of the desert.
The ATR dynamic in the Americas is different and ATR is growing here
but i think it has reached a crossroads and institutionalization is critical.
otherwise we will continue to be defined by those who despise us
At some point I need to take a strong look at the issues surrounding ATR institutionalization
including efforts to do so and where they stand.
This need is reflected in recent ATR dialogues about forming Ogbonis
to sanction unethical and ersatz priests.
These tensions are reflected in the recent ATR controversies regarding Iya ta'Shia Asanti, who professes to be a "Voodoo priestess" on Mad Mad World and the recent lawsuit filed by the National African Religion Congress charging her with misrepresentation. (what NARC got against putting idiots in a pit, pouring animal entrails over then and calling it African religion I wonder)
(I will fill in all these holes later, after a good day of novelwork)
Arthur, peace and blessings,
I have faith it will all come together, you're the kind of brother that makes things come together. I'm not fearing for you at all.
As you say, it is the "longgame" that counts. I'm running with Kalamu on this one. His e-drum has got a record to match -- every day he keeps pumping out the info. If we all can keep our work going, we'll all meet at the bend where hearts are healed.
The political issues are fine. And so are the religious one. As far as the nature of God, I'd like to think far most he can be questioned. Mine is not a simple faith, nor simply a spiritual one. A god that cannot be questioned is not worth his salt. I'd like to hear more about what goes on in your classes and on the campus of Syracuse University. I'd like to hear more about the lierary issues you confront. I'd like to see more commentary on your own work.
Maybe that asks for too much, that is the kind of thing that interests me and probably many of your students and young people who are teachable. The big issues are important, but these literary and technical issues of expression also are important.
We all wish you the best. As ever and always, Rudy
Posted by: Rudy | April 12, 2004 at 04:39 PM