Weekly Sneak: Taking Peace for Granted

Wasn't the end of this last Bunge session exciting. Seriously, who was expecting that anyone would employ a Motion of No Confidence to push the government off-balance. Our brand of politics has favored more direct forms of confrontation over those offered by the tools of public administration, so this is a step in the right direction.

Of course there was no way, no matter how swiftly the political activists moved on this one, that the Prime Minister was going to go down like that. If CCM hadn't found a reasonable technical loophole to escape this attack, they would have created one. And if all else fails, the President still has overwhelming powers to create law out of thin air by making a declaration. So truly, I don't think there was any particular danger other than hurt feelings and such.

For us regular citizens, politics is interesting because we need the products of improved governance: roads, schools, etc. The tangible stuff. But in order to get that, the crucial role played by long stretches of peace through successive administrations cannot be ignored- after all it is the foundation on which we have been able to build the state in the first place. So as long as we keep substituting legal, symbolic, democratic and administrative conflict for real physical conflict and civil unrest- we're doing great.

There's been a lot of huff and puff in the media about this being Africa's Century*. The only thing that would give this ideal any real legs, to me, is if this generation achieves its mission of creating a majority of states in which residents can take peace for granted. Kind of the way we take post-colonialism for granted now. And that starts with intelligent, pacific statecraft. This is hardly a new theme with me, but some things bear repeating. Coming to an East African near you:

"So much of our public dialogue these days has become consumed with questions of leadership, fighting corruption and getting the kind of governance we think we want. Most of the time, we frame our collective dissatisfaction with calls for great change, explicit change, explosive change if necessary. I wonder if we are all just a bit tired of living in a state of extended anxiety over the financial pinch, and anticipation that things will improve because surely they can't get any worse. But who is to say change will come all at once, and from the expected corners anyways? It would be fantastic if increasingly better governance and sensible politics could sneak up on us one concession at a time."

The Weekly Sneak: Namechecking Trevor Manuel

Alright, so how many of you reading this know what the Bretton Woods Institutions are, why they exist and how they operate? Because I have to confess, if it hadn't been for the news about the World Bank Chief selection process I would have continued to blissfully ignore them as peripheral to my life, hey. But it's a big story, and why not talk about some of the never-mentioned geopolitical, gendered and racially-tinged power dynamics behind some of our most visible international institutions? Coming to an East African near you:

"It does make one consider: two Finance Ministers from countries with experience in poverty and its economics were turned down in favor of a public health expert in HIV and Tuberculosis. Apparently, there is a “silent” agreement whereby Europe gets to head the IMF and America gets the World Bank. Considering this “silent” arrangement is an open secret, I supposed it was only a matter of time before countries most heavily subjected to these organizations' activities got restless about the institutions' governance, transparency and democratic selection processes."

I have heard it being bandied about, the notion that this is Africa's century et cetera. I am adopting an optimistic wait-and-see approach to this, but it doesn't mean I won't stick my oar into discussion of power from time to time. It's not my most politically-correct article, I must admit. Also, I had to find a way to work in Trevor Manuel. Because.

Speaking of getting rudely honest about things, last week's article about Steven Kanumba was a major throw of the dice. It is one thing to throw barbs at politicians however beloved they are, this is a time-honored tradition. It is another thing entirely to "attack" popular Tanzanians. I experienced the same dilemma around the time of Kikombe Cha Babu- bell the cat, or stay quiet and be a "good" Tanzanian? I had no choice in the end, I would have lost the respect of my inner activist if I hadn't said anything in defense of Lulu, Kanumba's underage "friend" and alleged murderer. Turns out this generated more responses than any article has in months. Peace.

The Weekly Sneak: Pro-Government Conservatism

This week, I am being exceedingly conservative in The East African... please prepare for some very dry musings. I need a little time to make sense of what's actually going on under the nose and daily assault of information. Also, recent activities that placed me on the outer peripheries of several movement/activist type initiatives have got me recoiling into my staunch pacifist corner again:

"The reason it is worth raising these concerns now is that hand in hand with an escalation in violent conflict between Tanzanians and their government there there is a worrying trend in the forums of free expression that live online. Empty and not-so empty threats are not uncommon as more and more young men- why is it always the young men- are threatening to 'do anything' to liberate themselves from the state's oppression. Hate speech is creeping up on us. Trouble is, we are standing on the brink of deepening our democracy significantly in the next three years. The question is whether we will take our inspiration from the Obama school of social change, or have we already bred a generation of Julius Malemas?"

Beware the populist leader, I say.

Worse yet, I am actually heaping some praise on the Kikwete administration for its commitment to democracy. My Celebrident might frustrate the living daylights out of me from time to time but at the end of the day he hasn't given me reason to fear that he has gone rogue. The trickle-down effects of his Tanzania-first attitude have been beneficial and I believe in giving credit where credit is due. While I can never join the party, I have no trouble with appreciating it's utility and competencies:

"It is worth repeating here that the current President has remained staunch in his avoidance of straight autocracy. With a Party chairman willing to exercise a bit of authority in order to retain as much of the spirit of 'public good' as he can manage, CCM has proved itself to be the chameleonic, learning organization that is smart enough to follow the winds of change. And as long as it is willing to flex and adapt to the times, however small the adjustments may be, then Tanzania retains a fighting chance, which is entirely different from the chance to fight. There is something to be said for that, and it is a lesson that I hope opposition parties are paying attention to."

The Weekly Sneak: Resolutions

Hello! The blog is still alive in case you have checked in and wondered about the scarcity of posts. It occurred to me sometime during a very busy last quarter that in fact blogging is a vacation-free committment. So I took some down time and have consistently deleted every blogpost drafted within the past week and a half. But it's time to get back in the saddle. It's been a while since I offered a peak of what's going to appear in The East African, so here goes:

... every time someone is interviewed on television or on radio for their opinion, they should be fined if they cite the government as being both the root cause of and the potential solution to any problem without providing alternatives. Double fines should apply if the person being interviewed is a civil servant. Immediate dismissal, egging and a public shaving of the head should apply to all elected politicians who blame the government for anything at all. However, perhaps prizes should be awarded for the greatest leaps of blind faith, such as believing that the Government of Tanzania has the capacity to predict let alone control the weather for the benefit of its people.

New Year's Resolutions are one of my favorite things, mostly for the entertainment factor that comes with knowing they are almost impossible to keep. Good luck with yours.

The Weekly Sneak: A History That Lives

So, this is a big week in terms of submissions. How does a columnist come up with something reasonable to say on the occasion of the 50th Independence Day celebrations? I tried to find a way to talk about nationalism, though I think that in the end the execution was a little clumsy. Then the Men In Nairobi dropped me a little email last night- past deadline- to inquire if I would like to pop out a last-minute piece with a higher word count. That's when I knew that all my past blown deadlines and experience with racing the clock were preparation for moments such as these: the eleventh hour essay 0n demand.

I actually have no idea if the article is good enough to be printed or not, the Powers That Be don't divulge that kind of information but I am hopeful. With more legroom to work around a topic, I decided to try and bring the past-present-future perspective of Tanzania to life through some light personal history:

"... having spent as much time as I could this year talking to my elders from Generation Independence I have come to embrace the notion that nationalism is a very personal experience. A sense of nationalism is often inseparable from a person's history. With a surname that regularly encourages complete strangers and immigration officers to ask me if I come from Nigeria or Japan or if perhaps I am Jewish, this has been an issue that I have thought about. The answer to all of the above is a resounding No. Anyways, in order to answer the question of why it is important to celebrate fifty years of independence, sometimes it is necessary to start by answering the 'who are you' question."

I was a very poor student of history in school because I couldn't be bothered with anything non-African or that wasn't about ancient civilizations. Memorizing wars, dates and murdered European monarchs was particularly painful. It wasn't until I discovered biographies that history became interesting: it was alive, tangible, real and relatable. I don't doubt that The East African's special on Tanganyika's 50th will be full of sober, expert commentary and perhaps a little Tanzanian machismo, so I thought I'd bring things down to the grassroots. Since I don't believe in marching in lockstep or getting too corporate about what nationalism or Tanzania or even Independence means for Tanzanians, I offered a subjective piece. I hope it works.

And seriously, that joke about the Yakuza? Spare. Me. I haven't found it funny since 1995.

The Weekly Sneak: Powered by Estrogen.

Due to an unexpected series of meetings and events, my feminist affront has just been shocked back to life again. I had been sitting on a piece about Voice for a long time, and I guess it was time for it to finish gestating and come out already. One of the reasons I tend to stay away from the F-word on the column is that it doesn't lend itself easily to humor. Feminists, like Ujamaa Socialists, are tediously serious about their causes and we just can't make the funny. And the column, it is supposed to bring the funny at least a little bit.

But it has been such a long time since I had a good rant, and I have been a little annoyed because I haven't emptied out the bin where I keep all the trash that casual chauvinism throws my way. In light of the fact that The East African edits my copy*, this week you are getting my two favorite paragraphs in the preview section:

"My President, Jakaya Kikwete, once said that it was his ambition to leave behind a parliament with a larger number of women in it than when he first came into office. Unfortunately we have tried parliamentary affirmative action, and the results are disappointing. Tanganyika turns fifty this year, yet all those decades of Special Seats Members of Parliament have failed to yield sufficient maternity wards in hospitals, prosecutions for rapists and child-molesters, equal pay for equal work... the list of grievances is long. Electricity rationing is tedious, yes, but let me tell you: giving birth on a concrete floor is an entirely different level of inconvenience."

And in conclusion, I have been looking for an excuse to sneak these James Brown lyrics into a 'serious' topic for a long time. What has 1960s Funk got to do with women in Tanzania?

"Feminism is an eight-letter word with a four-letter attitude. It is a cause that is familiar with extended guerrilla warfare in the rough wilderness of inflexible traditions. Social media is the AK47 of the present, at whose point many have demanded better treatment. To quote the King of Funk, James Brown (RIP) “I don't want nobody to give me nothing. Open up the door, and I'll get it myself.” Huh."

*Some writers like to be edited. I am not one of those blessed people. A couple of you regulars have told me that the style and tone of the EA articles is not quite in keeping with the style and tone of the blog. I appreciate the feedback, and I am working on the parts of that discrepancy that I can control.

The Weekly Sneak: Cooking Men

Here is the theory: four weeks in a month, four columns. Makes it ideal for a rotation across three or four focus areas: one political piece a month, one social commentary, one feminist and one for whatever burning issue has been hitting the headlines that month. The reality goes more like this: staring at the screen, sifting through half-finished word documents hoping for inspiration, and a lot of hand-wringing. Last night in the wee hours I was staring at a document that had the word "tanesco" on it only to realize that writing that piece would rob me of the will to live. So I gave myself permission to have fun. Coming soon to an East African near you:

... on the opposite end of the spectrum the forces of African conservative fundamentalism are horrified by this creeping trend: a man, a self-respecting African man, in the kitchen? Good grief. What will these insufferable liberals ask for next! Equal opportunities and basic human rights for all? The world is going straight to hell in a kikapu. They are right to be scared, I am afraid. The world as we have known it for generations is going to hell in a finely handcrafted vessel made of sustainable organic local materials. And I, for one, am happily waving it on its journey to oblivion.

I have been neglecting the feminist discussion on the blog, as someone pointed out recently. Time to go back to my roots. Also, I might have been listening to James Brown's "This Is a Man's World" on high rotation for a couple of hours. It is a man's world, yes it is. But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, without...