We’ve a splendid new article over at the Voice of the Turtle, freshly posted. It’s an overview of, and exhortation to, the political cadres that are formed within every Brazilian Landless Peasant Movement land occupation. And it’s far more compelling than its title – The Training of Political Cadres: theoretical structure, experiences and present situation – suggests. Here’s a sneak preview. Keep Reading »
Hmm. How odd. Today’s mass action on campus, for which there were posters almost everywhere, didn’t happen. Not only didn’t it happen, but the posters were removed, only two people remember seeing them, and the major grievance of students who weren’t excluded is that the espresso takes too long to queue for. There is no war. We have never been at war.
Being the digital hoarder-type, I’ve managed to accumulate over 2GB of mail since, er, 1997. Much of it is trivial ephemera, but there are historically significant bits of ephemera too. Having a pretty poor memory, I’m not apt at keeping track of it all. Not to worry, you say. Delete it, and if it’s important, someone will have stuck it up online. This may well be the case. But that would mean that I could get online. And I can’t. The World Bank is to blame.
This is a little late, being an idea that struck me on the road to Makhathini, where I’ve been spending the last couple of weeks (more on that soon). The storm around Harry Windsor was dying down even then, but for no reason I can recall, I remembered a talk given by Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa, head of Contralesa (Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa). A man of royal blood, he had this to say about his title in society, and the history of British colonialism: Keep Reading »
Right. Few words. Lots of pictures. A day at the protests today as students at the university somewhat unexpectedly decided that they’d had enough of being lied to by the administration. Photos here and analysis tomorrow, when I’ve more information. Too much hearsay to make much sense of it at the moment.
Chris over at the Virtual Stoa has both a true anecdote and a splendid picture of Bob Marley in honour of the man’s 60th birthday.
The Bob Marley Foundation doesn’t burn the torch quite as brightly as it ought- and I believe Rita Marley has almost all the blame to shoulder. Today, they’re holding a concert in Addis Ababa. Among the high flying sponsors you’ll find those ganja kings of economic policy, the World Bank. Looks like Rita drew a bad card:
Right then. Back to blogging after my longest period away from email since, um, 1997. Two whole weeks. Because I am, as anyone knows, foremost a social scientist, I kept a diary of the entire experience. Initial response to email deprivation included dry mouth, slight tremors, anxiety and mild nausea. These symptoms soon abated when, four days into the experiment, books, music and conversation replaced the need for email. Nonetheless, a gnawing craving burst through on day six, and the subjects drove 100km over a dirt road in order to find a place that allegedly had internet access. The allegations proved to be false, and initial symptoms briefly returned. Days eight, nine, and ten saw a predominance of euphoric spells, with occasional singing to self, but as day fourteen, and the conclusion of the experiment, approached, initial symptoms returned, together with periods of foreboding and dread at the thought of clearing the impending accumulated email clutter. So now you know.
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