A little rain, a little traffic, a little meeting in the 'hood.

I can't be the only one chuckling at this: Nairobi hosted East Africa's World Social Forum (WSF) 2007 where all the lefties, greens, civil society beasts and other fringe types come together to wag a collective finger at Evil Corporations and Bad Governments. This year Dar gets to host the World Economic Forum on Africa where Governments and CEOs come together to make big economic plans, preferably without the drippy intrusions of the fringy folks. Nairobi got the Lefties. Dar got the Corporates. What is the world coming to?

Whatever. My real beef here is congestion- something that has been bothering Bongolanders of all vehicular stripes since the masika rains decided to go for broke. I wasn't going to say anything- lord knows there's been enough yakking about drainage systems and urban planning to satisfy the bitterest grouser. However the combination of flooding, road damage and totally insane road closures because of the WEF has tipped us over the edge of RIDICULOUS commuting times. Oh, you should hear the pathetic stories from people who live in the Outer Reaches of Beyond, like Kimara. Waking up at 4:00 or earlier to wade through backed up sewage/drainage pipes and being forced to push their stalled daladalas. It is inhumane.

So while it is nice to hold this Big Important Meeting to which Watus Are Not Really Invited right here in Dar es Salaam, my beloved center of the universe, I must admit regretfully that we don't seem to have the infrastructure for it. Mister Popularity was cracking jokes amidst his thinly veiled threats to TUCTA about not striking tomorrow, but if they do and lock up the city center we're going to end up killing each other at gridlocked intersections.

Likelihood is that tommorow is the endtimes anyways. They are closing Ali Hassan Mwinyi for four hours per day! Decades of Tanzanian civilization will be wiped out in one day. We should have traded in a couple of State House Taxis for helicopters so that your people could fly these Very Important Nuisances hither and yon and leave us alone. Because life is already plenty hard enough. Just sayin', Jay Kay. You'll be that president, know what I mean? The Weffers might go home with fond memories of how fresh the fish was from the buffet and how gorgeous the view from Level 8, but we the Watus will remember it a little differently.

Mambo ya Beijing.

Happy belated International Women's Day. How did you celebrate? I watched the Oscars... after Tanesco ensured we missed the opening extravaganza. It seemed to be a good day for women in the industry: Bigelow, Bullock, Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Gyllenhaal, a handful of grand dames. And an average time was had by all.

In the papers today, a couple of media houses picked up on Jay Kay's speech at the national celebration of Women's Day held in Tabora. I tell you, CCM will 'celebrate' anything that can put the leadership on a podium with a thematic t-shirt and cap*. The president was basically reiterating his desire to see more women achieve positions of power and leadership in his administration. This is 'mambo ya beijing' in action: lots of pomp, iffy content. I wish he would think things through a little bit. Nothing said there challenged the status quo.

Beijing has become our code word for all issues pertaining to women and their rights. Mambo ya Beijing- literally Beijing Issues- and not feminism, because we still haven't recovered from the discovery and import of this new political front at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995. How are we faring 15 years later?

A few days ago, I asked My Lady of the Weary Smiles what she thought of Umoja wa Wanawake Tanzania (the horribly misnamed CCM Women's League). Let's just say she wasn't in the least bit impressed, on the premise that the Women's League has been useless at representing women and remained an organ for co-opting the women's vote during elections. She was slightly kinder towards the feminist NGOs because if nothing else, at least they were not draining public monies. Some have even been known to bring women's issues to the political arena.

I figure that her summary is quite valid: what our women politicians say and what they practice has little or nothing to do with improving the lives of other women. Feminist organizations are struggling to perform any better. These things take time. When my generation of feminists of all stripes chooses to organize politically, it will be infinitely more interesting than all the 'gender mainstreaming' that's been going on. Until then...mambo ya beijing.