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.

No, Walter. You're Majorly Racist Wrong.

Ah, hello Afropessimism. It has been a while, old foe. I see that like most pathogens you have failed to die, and in fact taken on a whole new dimension of virulence. Now you're getting Generation Free Africans to sign on to your perspective.

You see, this just won't do. The single-narrative ahistorical account of African's development problems is part of the hegemonic package, isn't it? Especially when delivered by someone who is clearly morally bankrupt and on his way to service an economic 'hit' on Zambia. I have met these kinds of people, they are far creepier and more intellectually manipulative than Field Rue's account would suggest.

The old adage is true, you know: for a lie to be truly effective, you should only embellish things a little bit where you might get away with it. By all means, I concur: what on earth are African intellectuals and academics doing? Or not doing, as the case may be. As no one has bothered to do a scientific study of this diverse social group, I am comfortable offering a divergent view of African academics and intellectuals and development and colonialism than his.

First of all, the 'colonial history doesn't matter' argument is pure manure. I dare that bald Walter man to say that while standing in the middle of a Native American reservation, or to the chief of an Aboriginal tribe in Australia. If nothing else, at least Africans can thank genetics for a surprising physical resilience that survived systematic and sustained physical and psychological warfare of the most inhumane kind. My own beloved folks lived under an English-designed colonial apartheid system of job and education allocation before independence and I can still see the scars- how dare this man say that our history doesn't matter*? What he got right is this: our history shouldn't cripple us. It is time to rise out of the ashes, and all that.

Secondly, laying the whole burden of African development on the slim shoulders of a minute and extremely recent intellectual class is a bit of a gamble. By all means, call us out...within reason. There have been, and I count them: two. Precisely two generations of Africans trained in Western science, culture and art- with some struggle. What's worse is that they belong nowhere: our unmeritocratic governments avoid them because they are often too scrupulous, the West allows them to emigrate only after a decently long enough time to be assured of their economic loyalty, and their nationalists and leftists despise them because of an obsession with "class" distinctions drawn from the European Industrial Age. Tip of the iceberg: in Tanzania, Dr. Julie Makani recently won a pretty dope accolade for her research into Sickle Cell Anaemia. Erasto Mpemba discovered the Mpemba effect. This is world-class work, and both scientists live in Tanzania driven more by patriotism than economic sensibility. But who cares? Hint: not Bald Walter. He's too busy bribing Presidents.

But that's the third trick in How To Lie Effectively book, isn't it? Put the opposition on defensive if all else fails. By raising the issue of corruption, Bald Walter manages to make any respondent feel uncharitable. Here is where Feminism comes in handy: a lifetime of cracking the nuts off hostile opposition has taught me a survival trick or two. An important one is 'don't let them get you frothing at the mouth,' because then rationality goes out of the window and so does dialogue. So in that spirit, I say that if Bald Walter has the time and the inclination to do so, I would be delighted to hold this conversation at a deeper level face to face someday. Everyone deserves a second interpretation, even if they come across as DNA-deep racist, neocolonial, predatory, psychopathic economic mercenaries.

*So: The Jewish people of the world have Israel And Africans shouldn't raise the specter of colonialism (slavery, torture, trafficking, mass murder, etc) viz their current situation? I don't understand how that works. I don't understand how that's not racist. This is a genuine question. Please, somebody, explain it to me so it sticks.

Is Aid a Right?

No. Aid is many things, but a right it is not. Thanks for reading.

Social Media School: Empowerment And Politics

So during this little hiatus I have been thinking about the teaching of Social Media for professional purposes- which was my last job and might become a thing I do from time to time. Social Media is a funny thing. As a new phenomenon it has people scrambling to come up with definitions and to describe how it functions and predict its impact. But this is a real game-changer, a paradigm shift if you will, and I don't think we can accurately predict yet what social media will do to humanity any more than medieval serfs could tell you what the long-term impact of mass literacy would be once the printing press was invented. We're all still groping along in the dark.

Philosophical musing aside, the core question that is always asked about social media when you teach it is a simple one: effectiveness. People and organizations want to know how to harness the powers of social media for their own uses. Usually that use is to tell people what to do, no matter how sweet and socially-conscious your intentions. This is politics at play. It all sounds very feasible until you embrace the fact that social media is driven by the social aspect of it more than the technology. That's when we have to admit things complex.

Traditional communications thinking is quite linear: you develop content or messaging, usually from an assumption that you are expert at what it is you want to say and that you are saying it to passive tabula raza recipients. You broadcast to your "target audience" (tabula raza, passive recipients) and sit back and monitor your impact. You then analyze what data you have, fix the problems, make new and improved content, broadcast, monitor your empty-headed little consumers, rinse, repeat. Very imperious in its approach. Social media? You can do that- in a sense that's what blogging does even if it allows for comments. However, mobilizing people through social media is a dastardly game for one simple reason: everyone is a politician. By virtue of the fact that fellow social media users are just as free as you to act upon you, the near-equal footing demands a whole new approach to politics. It demands... egalitarianism. This is revolutionary stuff.

We call it social because what a nice word 'social' is, you know, friendly. It masks the inherent power plays. When people are starting out a campaign and they ask how to get Likes on a Facebook page, what they are really asking is: how can I make lots of complete strangers come to my page and think I am cool enough to Like so that I can increase my social capital/influence by appearing to be a popular choice (and therefore a valid/authoritative one)? Same with hits on a blog, retweets and Followers. Playing the numbers game in social media gives the illusion of security and power: if lots of people are around me, I must be doing things right. Maybe you are, but then again maybe you are just the flavor of the month. That happens more often than we like to admit. And if almost no one reads your stuff, then it must be terrible right and nobody loves you? That might be the case, but then again you might be a wonderfully valuable niche commodity that is adored by true believers, connoisseurs and those with esoteric tastes.

Yet even this distinction is porous. Once you put something out there anyone can access it and use it. You might intend social media content for a particular group but it isn't exclusive*. Interested parties of any kind can join in the fun... or shut you down. Assuming you get it right and you manage to attract a community- for one must humbly beg for attention, no imperiousness allowed here- then how do you then convince them to do your bidding? In other words, how do you exercise the power of influence over them? Especially since your fellow citizens of the net not only consider themselves absolutely your equals if not your superiors, they are also your clients/consumers who can decide to abandon you at any moment.

Social media power is very fragile, everyone you are relating to is just as hip to the game as you are. You can't even speak on anyone's behalf: if they are online they will simply speak for their damn selves, thank you kindly. This precludes the comforts of traditional power: you can't always claim expertise, you must constantly beg for attention while staving off competition and challenges, and there is no such thing as a captive audience. To make things worse, it is time-bound: you can never work fast enough. Basically, it is survival of the fittest and wittiest, the most creative, and those who don't follow trends so much as make them.

None of which qualities matter if they are not supported by less tangible skills like some humility, longevity, acumen, craftsmanship and the willingness to remain a perpetual student. For all that it is democratic in nature, social media is ultimately as elitist as any other human endeavor. If you want to win, you have to learn to be good at it, exploit every advantage you have to the fullest and compensate for your weaknesses or just hide them. Basically, become a politician, and a damn good one at that.

If you got this far down the rant, high five and let me know your thoughts. Am going to end here for now but ultimately this is all supposed to be background thinking to support the eventual design of a social media for social change Master Class which I would love to co-run at least once in my life before becoming as obsolete as parchment :). Happy surfing.

*Target audiences don't exist, and I know it. Here's why: the internet was never designed to 'speak' to an African woman of indeterminate age (ahem) with feminist leanings and a fetish for Tanzanian politics, or any of the other million "minorities" it never considered during its design. And yet. So, don't sweat the audience thing. Ever.

TEDxDAR 2011: Then and Now

The first sub-theme of TEDxDAR 2011 is the tension between the past and the present. This is a subject that just keeps giving in my opinion, and a salient discussion in present-day TZ. By far my favorite question there is: how does modernity differ from development and where do they intersect? I don't think we do enough critical reflection on the distinction between modernity and development, so it will be interesting to see what emerges on Saturday.

My take is that while I can understand anyone who gets exasperated by our habit of glorifying the past- and we can really lay it on thick- we still have to dredge it up to inform our current perspectives and decisions. We also need the past to tell us who we are now and how we got here in the first place. Without that reflection, we simply can't make informed decisions. I see this affecting everything from the production and reproduction of culture to governance and how we understand our leaders' responsibilities towards us. Without that reflection, it does become difficult to distinguish between grand ideas like modernity and development. It is hard to figure out what we mean by them, or why we desire them in the first place...

Not signed up yet? Registration is still open.

Three Weeks in October

So I just spent three extremely intensive weeks co-facilitating a course on social media for social change. Yup, helping do-gooding meddlers improve their communications strategies so that they can reach your mind, your heart and your wallet through the internet as well as traditional media. Empowerment, behavior change and social justice driven by the interwebs- you're excited, neh?

Of course- and I should have known this- turning a passion into work was wonderful. It also meant that I burned off my fun faculties and have had to take a media fast for the week. I think yesterday was the first day I comfortably got online and bushwhacked my way through the gmail inbox (only 40 unread emails, down from 400!). I like to keep a clean inbox, it calms me down. But back to the issue at hand: facilitating the adoption of social media for professional usage.

The best thing about this is how wide open the field is. Total playtime: there are formulae and best practices, but because this is social media they have to be customized and localized. There is a strong element of selection, design and creativity in social media that can only be 'learned' through use and individual strategy. That was the point of the course actually: to help the participants become social media stewards* for their organizations and then draft up as comprehensive a strategy as they could using free socmed platforms to enhance their work. That part went better than expected, but several of the participants raised a very relevant question that is still bothering me. What's the point when hardly anyone has access to the internet in the first place? We're talking developing SSA countries here, hardly connected to themselves let alone the internet.

This chart was supposed to contain all forms of media that we could think of. I knew we'd hit the jackpot when people threw in talking drums next to iPhones. Media is indivisible from its technology.

Made me toss and turn, that. Inappropriate technology? Was this course just jumping on yet another NGO world trend (socmed is SO HOT right now)? It's not like Tweeting will guarantee safe childbirth, or better pastoralist-agriculturalist relations. However, isn't that a bit like asking television to solve world hunger? A little perspective here: social media are just a communications tool like any other, enhanced by the fact that "target audiences" are not passive consumers of your grand ideas, they are active partners in a conversation and potential allies in action.

Here's the thing though: social media is riding in nicely on the wave of technology. Due to technology leapfrogging and our increasing prosperity in the next five to ten years there's going to be a lot more 3G phones, WiFi spots and assorted accoutrements in the hands of Africans than the poverty-obsessed would like to admit. It is politic, I think, to start creating the foundations for this form of literacy and world citizenship now lest we create a class of left-behinds out of a questionable desire to be 'relevant'. Local realities are always in flux, and when an NGO worker starts talking 'relevance' it too often means that someone is about to be heavily patronized. I don't happen to see any problem with discussing equitable access to technology as well as clean water, and reasonable food prices. Simultaneously.

So yes indeed: what's the point of being a social media pusher in SSA when there's Al Shabaab and drought and run-away petroleum prices to contend with? Ask me again in ten years, hey. But I'll give you a hint: Nokia gets it. Google's found a clue. M-Pesa, Ushahidi, the list grows on. Social media is a wonderfully capacious bandwagon, it's probably not a bad idea to get as many people on there as possible. Yes, even Africans.

Global, Local, Expert?

Sorry to be a bit boring, got development in mind lately. The movement to democratize the industry and let people self-determine is finally picking up steam in tangible ways. Rakesh Rajani's piece about the business of development provides a nice framework for the global-local relationship. So Ben Taylor's piece offering two possible approaches to Open Government in Tanzania is a nice follow up. What was it again? Oh yeah: think global act local. That must have been a few development paradigms ago. Plus ca change.

On the issue of global/local and 'expertise,' by stalking William Easterly on the Twitter I came across an article published in 2008 by Nathan Nunn and Leonard Wantchekon titled 'The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa.' Anyone who can claim to know the origins of mistrust in Africa is already taking a huge risk in my opinion. I find the article objectionable on any number of levels, but in the interest of saving time let me just ask you to contrast their approach to 'Africa' with this anthropologist's approach to studying a complex issue in an African setting. Social scientists, all three studying a culture not their own. The economists do come out of this looking like aliens trying to puzzle out human behavior. Sigh. Economists.

So, Chadema lost Igunga. Here's Omar's original piece on the importance of this election for Chadema, and a follow-up that dips into some past analysis. And a post-mortem from The Citizen that contains interesting opinions from 'the man on the ground'.

Development Aid

There is apparently a paradigm shift happening in the development aid sector. As donor governments reduce the amount of aid that they are giving, private philanthropy is gaining prominence in the development sector. If you are in the business of development or if this kind of discussion is your thing, check out the Bellagio Initiative.

I have to confess that I am seriously conflicted about the development aid thing. I "get" the point, sure, but you can't live on this continent without become deeply, deeply, deeply cynical about the geopolitics of the development industry. But to get back to the point, we pay a lot of lip-service to reducing our dependency on aid, and it will be enriching to watch the thinkers figure out how this new dynamic is going to impact the business.

Weekly Sneak: Customize Your State

Every so often I have this recurring discussion: is Tanzania really a democracy or is she not? Reason being, we've had the same party in power since independence in spite of nearly two decades of multi-party rule. I get the premise- a change in party is a good measure of the robustness of a democracy, or its maturity. While I agree that this is not something that will happen in Tanzania anytime soon, that one measure* is no reason to go pretending we don't live in a democracy. It just needs a bit of tweaking. Anyways, this argument never fails to make me indignant. So of course I rushed back to my keyboard and pounded out another take on a familiar theme: polities are quite individualistic entities. You can't prescribe universal measures of democracy or change without looking at the reality of the political structure in question... and in Tanzania, we have a rather unique set of circumstances:

"This is a measure of how good we have it- we think that we can afford our complacency. Tanzanians know that we don’t have to take to the streets in order to effect change. We can and regularly do talk ourselves into it, however incremental it is. Multiparty politics have done us a world of good in the past decade: the political competition in Bunge is starting to weed out the weak, Zanzibar is coming along quietly as an experiment in power-sharing. We need not fear that Jay Kay will do anything ridiculous to try to stay in power indefinitely, like pretending not to know how old he really is. We can afford to anticipate a change in administration, and we can afford to let complaint be our main method of political action. But we shouldn’t end there."

I do find that the positive political articles are not particularly popular on the blog or in print- readers love a good rant, I guess we all have the taste for blood. And the macro-level stuff really tends to make eyes glaze over :) Well, sometimes I feel optimistic and it will be interesting to see if this one sinks or swims in next week's East African.

*Seriously, folks: we're not Europe. We're not America. Deal with it. And the quest for a political party that is not embarrassing to belong to goes on...

Fresh Catch From the Webtrawler

I need to close some tabs on the browser again, so let me get this post done. And if you sent in a link, thank you. You know who you are. Anyways, here's the most recent catch of interest from the Intertubes:

From the world of development: I love that sometimes when you have a tiny idea and you can't quite articulate it... someone out there is more likely than not to have done a bit of thinking and writing on it that elucidates. Anyways, I have long ribbed economists for hogging more than their fair share of the development discourse and made the argument that we need more social scientists. Here is an excellent example of social science work with real ramifications. And here is a very nice piece about politics and development. This here is a more general discussion of interdisciplinary and culturally appropriate approaches to development.

In other news, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had this to say about Nigerian politics and the lead up to their upcoming elections. I like her writing and I wish the article had been a bit longer.

From the wild and whacky world of social media: how has Twitter changed our political behavior? I would say that this article overstates things a bit, but it's got nice graphs. Speaking of pretty pictures: here is an effort from the Uwezo/Twaweza complex that certainly gives food for thought. It's a great site for playing around with info, but remember to keep an eye out as they do herd you towards some very obvious conclusions...

Another group of people seeking to influence your mind are... you guessed it! The US military is on a Facebook page near you! Lol. I love the way the science fiction of my youth and the realities of my adult life seem to be coming together nicely. Truth? Fiction? Can you tell anymore? Am I even alive? Maybe I'm a web-app. But do I dream of electric sheep?... I could do this all day :) And so the week starts...

The King's Diary: Political Conundrums.

Dear Me

For almost seven years I have tirelessly worked to deliver a better life to my subjects. But I seem to have failed. Problems I faced when I came to power such as electricity rationing, delays at the port, traffic congestion, a malfunctioning railroad, backward agriculture and an untrained and unskilled population remain unresolved. Other things are getting worse: food prices are skyrocketing, the Treasury is out of cash and one of the donors has walked out on us calling the Kingdom “an unreliable partner”. More may follow. Meanwhile TKP officials continue to line their pockets without delivering anything, the opposition is getting more vocal and citizens are getting restless. This is an explosive situation! As leader I need to find a solution and restore the TKPs legitimacy.

I came across an interesting book by Richard Hofstadter that seems to speak to our precarious situation. It discusses party history in the Great Imperialist Nation. Like us, the Great Nation struggled with its opposition, and like the TKP, the incumbent party was set to destroy the opposition by all means. They even succeeded, but when they did the remaining party fell into disarray. During the Era of Good Feeling (1816-1824) the party ruled virtually unchallenged and fell into several factions that failed to work together. Without external pressure toward solidarity, internal disintegration was unchecked.

How much this resembles our situation. The TKPs power is virtually unchallenged. Could it be that because there is no incentive to compromise and accommodate one another, TKP big wigs fall out in different factions and interest groups and fail to collaborate?

If correct then going after the opposition will not result in triumph but in chaos. Should we stop fighting the opposition and allow them space to compete? Should we allow them to demonstrate and to highlight TKP weaknesses? It could drive TKP members to greater solidarity. Should we allow them to win constituencies of non-performing MPs? It will certainly prune the TKP of its weak members and entice others to work harder. Hmmm.... interesting thought. Could it really help restore the TKP’s glory? I need to think this over.

14 March 2011

A Christmas Allegory

When I was a kid, I used to get told stories all the time. There always seemed to be an older relative around who could be cajoled into telling us about Abnuasi (sp?) or any number of tricksters. These stories were almost always quite dark and some were frankly revolting... none of that Disneyfied twaddle for us pre-TV kids, no Hakunarrrr Matatarrrrrr here.

What was really good about these stories, this dying art, is how very best of them could condense deep insights into human nature and the way of the world into a half-hour's entertainment. Politics, thrift, love, loyalty, cunning, competitiveness, character... a philosophical answer to almost any issue lay just one story away.

So when I came across this great allegory* a couple of days ago, I thought y'all might enjoy it too. It's a fun read for the big kid in you and has some rather interesting things to say about "a richly-endowed country, possibly Tanzania"'s contemporary history not to mention our development policies... and our leadership. I'll tell you this much- it doesn't exactly paint Bongo as an Emergent Democracy.

I have a few things to say about the political reading- I find that it could be more nuanced- but there is something to be said about the way in which we are often run more like a monarchy which kow-tows to patriarchal and hereditary power than a Weberian bureaucracy. Still, the story is the most candid, nimble and humorous piece of musing on Tanzanian development I have read in a very long time. Love it? Hate it? Holler in the comments section.

*You have to click on 'view' in the right hand bar under 'Current News' to read The Choice.

Tanzanian Exceptionalism?

This is an idea that has been rolling around my head for a while. And it's probably going to take a bit of doing to explain. But here's a start:

Emergent Democracy.* It's a concept I have only stumbled upon recently after thinking that the idea of emergence shouldn't belong to economics alone (emergent market). Yeah, I know. I move slow. Now, onto the good stuff:

-"action of many individual participants"

- "complex and unpredictable results"

- "efficiency beyond the comprehension of any individual participant"

- and my favorite bit: "Supporters of the idea point to instances in which bloggers have brought about political change by posting about issues that mainstream media had not paid much attention to..."

Now: comparative political analysis has it's uses but I have felt for years that Africa is underserved in this area by her many polities, ethno-political complexity, geographic variety and impenetrability, structural racism, ignorance fuelled by spotty documentation, and general misunderstoodness. None of which are new complaints amongst Africanist scholars, I'm just cribbing from those who've gone before and standing on the shoulders of giants.

This mash-up of convoluted thinking is trying to address how strange comparisons happen: the Kenya/Tanzania pairing for example. I think it makes more sense to do a Tanzania/South Africa pairing in the post-colonial context if one counts South Africa's independence as having happened in 1994. Which is when the emergent market concept kicks in nicely. Kenya/Tanzania? What, because of geographic proximity? That's just lazy. Yes, even if we're going all EAC. It's still lazy.

But that's just one layer. Evidently there is a technological/communications component: it seems that social media is an integral factor of emergent democracy as a concept. Not to mention the way it introduces/acknowledges complexity by embracing the idea of multiple actors outside of the traditional roles (legislator, executive, judge) without devolving the discussion to something as trite as single-issue lobbying.

And so it makes sense in my head to think of Tanzania as one of the emergent democracies on the continent: diverse population, diverse agendas, complex interrelations. Democracy at work however compromised it may appear to an external observer (the system does in fact self-correct for balance. or peace. and no, you don't get to choose how.). Modernist habits- the adoption of IT technologies, leap-frogging stuff like a cumbersome landlines parastatal telephone system. Entrepreneurial spirit and political savvy. These are just a few of the significant positives that Tanzania could continue to build upon.

Which means, naturally, that there are significant negatives threatening to drag us down too. Beginning with oversimplification: our decades-long public-education mess is not serving us well. I have heard keen-minded colleagues in the field of political analysis say things that are shockingly dubious about our history. And then cling to antiquated notions against all evidence of research, articles and voluble argumentation. That's messed up. If idealism and conservatism constantly trump evidence and dynamic thinking we're gonna tie ourselves up in knots.

Put down the verbal gun. I'll be the first to admit: I had to leave the country to learn the country, if you know what I mean. Yeah. Try buying a well-researched, totally dependable collection of books on Tanzanian history and let me know how that went for you, bongolander. Being kept uninformed about the gritty bits of our contemporary history is a part of the social contract that I think we should push to renegotiate in a global kind of sense.

But that's just one layer. There's the real issue of haves and have-nots: what's our mechanism for handling economic stratification? America advances the idea of universal opportunity: if you just work hard enough you too shall be a millionaire. Now, it's a nice little bedtime story and we all know it doesn't quite work out that simply. Still, as a national ethos... it's pretty positive. Constructive. Non-partisan. It's got non-Americans skipping on planes to go find their streets of gold in a country that isn't nearly as kind to immigrants as it's PR campaign suggests.

The Tanzanian social contract is sort of libertarian with heavy doses of social liberalism. Social stratification is a lived reality for Tanzanians of all walks of life, as economic enclaving is almost impossible here. Perhaps one major factor, often overlooked, is the fact that the state owns land in Tanzania and only leases it to citizens for prescribed periods of time. Which means that this business of going Happy Valley and shooting trespassers is not done with impunity here. All to say, it can be hard to be entirely untouchable here as some folks from the previous government may have found out to their surprise. I like it that way- keeps us honest, lean and mean.

Tuesday 23rd November: I completely forgot to mention a major factor in the social contract! Corruption. We point our fingers upwards and knock our politicians about for stealing public funds- and they deserve it. However, we also don't talk about the fact that living in Tanzania these days means hustling and you can bet your bottom shilling that most every adult has at one point or another deliberately initiated or engaged in corrupt practices for their own gain. So it's structural. I don't really know how this fits in with the emergent democracy framework, or if it does. Might be more of a cultural issue- one man's nepotism is another man's family duty.

Another layer: emergent democracies are not all that common. Not really. It takes a certain fluidity, technophilia, mental flexibility and creativity to live and thrive as an emergent democracy. I think that Tanzania, in her post-colonial history, has proved that she's got what it takes to adapt to the various situations thrown up by a rapidly changing, ever-competitive world. Doubt me? Look at how we handle our elections. It might not be perfect, but it's a far cry from Kenya (eish), Uganda (puh-leeze), Burundi (hm?), Rwanda (democracy? heh.), Congo (basketcase), Zambia (mh.), Malawi (mh.), and Mozambique (meh. maybe).

Thing is, it's not about superiority or inferiority. Here's how Asia has always been a touch more privileged than Africa as a developing continent. See, Japanese folks don't get subjected to anxiety dreams over what Indians are doing. Because no one is confused about whether Asia is a country or a continent. Both polities, both cultures are respected in their individual right as they work the nation-state model. Africa? Not so much. Why is it that on this most diverse of continents we don't embrace the fundamental idea of real diversity? With functionality as the only real measure of success? Sure, there are fifty-plus polities. What's wrong with the idea that they are all exceptional, and worthy of study in their own right?

I think that only after this level of respect for individual polities has run it's course will it make sense to talk about a pan-African identity and accept the demands of massification/ manufactured collectivization. Europe still won't get it together, and it's taken them how many millenia? Enough said. Gonna end here for this foray and see what turns up in the comments section :) Be gentle. Heh.

*Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is tugging my heartstrings for money. I would give him some if I wasn't perpetually embroiled in a fight with my bankers over the quality of their retail services. Still, what a fantastic resource is Wiki? Sigh.

Tutti Frutti: around the web in 72 hours

Oh, what goodies the internet has brought! Here's what's been on my multi-tab browser these past two or three days. I need to post this so I can close the damn tabs and open new ones. All content found through your tweets, emails, IMs, FB updates and various soc-med. High Five.

Vijana FM said they would do it, so they did it: crowdmapping the General Elections 2010 through crowd-sourcing. Ushahidi is running under the bonnet, but we have to gas the thing. It's YOUR country. Vote like you OWN it.

For those who believe that autocracy in Africa equal economic growth and a steady supply of Kitenge and prosperity and safe, affordable public transport and all the other good stuff? William Easterly says you are wrong. :).

In the arts: Dar Sketches is about to put on a show. Don't miss, the prints are way worth it and if you love Bongo you will have a great time. Also: FaceBook is on the big screen in the Social Media movie. Yup. FB, the movie. Just... yeah, I know. Lastly, The First Grader. The casting is appalling, yes, and the tear-jerking is unfortunate. But the story, the story... there might be something there.

And a little modern feminism: the little college that would. :)

Tanzania...without aid?

There's a very interesting debate that went down on As I Please, the blog formerly known as African Bambataa. What's interesting about it is the competition between rhetoric and reality, that gap between what we want and what we can get. I must admit to a strong bias towards historically grounded political-economic perspectives of the 'development problem' rather than purely economic (or purely political for that matter) perspectives. And, of course, hard-nosed pragmatism. The comments section offers some revealing ruminations.

Anyways, for those who are interested in what development aid is like in practice- the flip side of theory and political rhetoric- this makes an excellent companion piece.

TEDxDAR: Young Kimaro

And last, but not least, Young Kimaro. As an aspiring columnist, I have always admired the lucidity, pragmatism and humor of her writing in the Daily News. Also: she's cool peeps. She remembered to Big Up Kate Bomz (the hidden factor) for pushing like a demon to make sure she was here to support, organize and respond to Speakers for the event. Tech moment: Kate Bomz was actually online and managed to respond live.

Technology. Education. Development. x. Dar es Salaam. That's what's up.

Young Kimaro is hypnotically soft-spoken and I am tired, so forgive me if I don't do justice to her presentation. She started with illustrations from the tourism sector. We are understandably proud of our rich natural resources, but until she started breaking it down for me I did not think too deeply about how our relatively poor services are compromizing our tourism trade and making us uncompetitive in a world chock-a-block full of gorgeous places to visit. And that's just one sector.

"What if we all did what we do...better. every day, every week, every month, every year."

What if?

Young took us from the ideal to the applicable through the tool of Client Focus. And she broke. it. down. For the first time, the comparison with Asian Tigers- which never fails to annoy me because of the implicit historical insensitivity- made sense to me. She was so much better at giving me a credible explanation of the hidden factors that propelled them forward than anyone I have come across to date.

Told you she was pragmatic. Watch out for the soft-spoken ones.

TEDxDAR: Rakesh Rajani

Rakesh Rajani is best known to most of us for his helmsmanship of HakiElimu, the most notoriously successful watchdog NGO in Tanzania in the past five years. Using public education as a platform HakiElimu took the fight to the big boys, roasting the government in the fat of its own statistics at a time when it was political suicide to poke holes in the Primary Education Development Program in front of donors. At present, Rakesh is doing what he does extremely effectively: founding, fostering and promoting a new activist organization in Twaweza.

His talk was titled: "Development is Failing Miserably-lessons from 9 villages in Tanzania." Supported by a slide show of pictures taken by Pernilla Baernst taken in 2008, Oct 2009, Rakesh took us through documented experiences of 'failures' in various sectors. This is about getting to the core of development challenges- holding government to power, demanding accountability, rejecting the false stories and false consciousness of the development industry.

But- and this is where things get interesting- the talk was also full of stories of success. Of course 'poor' people in poor countries are not sitting around woefully acting out their poverty. Rakesh took us along as he met canny entrepreneurs and innovators who are powering along the Tanzanian economy by making the best use of what's available. If necessity is the mother of invention, it goes to stand that the powerhouses of innovation will be found where the need is greatest. Doesn't that just invert the power triangle?

I guess that ultimately, Rakesh's point is that we (Tanzania) do not lack money or people or donors or any other classic ingredient for development. What we need is imagination that knows where to look and how to create and invest where it will really make a difference.

"Imagination will make Tanzania Fly."

Now isn't it nice to get a positive development vision for once?

TEDxDAR: The Leadership Challenge

Oh, my people. There is something about our West African brethren isn't there? They don't suffer from quite the same Culture of Silence and Acquiscence as we do here in East Africa. No, sir. Taking a break while George Ayittey talks about my favorite thing in the world: governance. Yes: Power, the Power to Self Rule and What we Africans Have Done With It. Oh yeah, and markets and the relationship between the market and politics. We should have left it Political Economy in my opinion, you can't have a one-sided coin.

Watch the video, there's nothing else to be said.

Bloglink: Shurufu is also liveblogging this event, check out his posts.

A Fine Romance, Part Two: Now That We've Caught Him...

...we can ask ourselves: what kind of Head of State have we subjected ourselves to? In the first musing about Jay Kay's presidential persona, I spent most of the post wondering at the reasons why we voted him into power so overwhelmingly five years ago. Whatever they were, we've had a decent period of time to observe him as an individual and test the mettle of his leadership.

There are probably as many opinions about the President as there are citizens. Certainly in the course of informally surveying folks the statements range from complete dismissal through to fierce loyalty. Not that he's a polarizing figure mind you, its just that if three Tanzanians are arguing a political issue you'll get at least five opinions out of them. I myself am a sympathizer: many little boys- and a couple of little girls- imagine that they will one day be President but very few have what it takes to make it happen, ergo Jay Kay is closer to Obama than George Bush on the individual agency/intellect scale.

Since CCM is going to be launching its marketing... I mean election campaign soon enough with a detailed enumeration of their 'successes' in the past five years, I'll just focus on the broader things that I think this President and his administration have done well:

- Fired people in high places. Prime Ministers, Bank Governors, Ministers, hapless District Commissioners and the rest of the smug untouchables: that was the sound of your impunity flying out the window. There is something to be said for setting such a Deeply. Satisfying. Precedent. Hell, one day we might even find someone guilty of corruption, but let me not get ahead of myself.

- Hired some good folks: The current Prime Minister, the Chief Justice, the head of TBC, the coach of the national football team to name a few of the easily visible ones. There is a something going on here. Considering his vast powers of appointment Jay Kay seems to be aiming for good recruits rather than simply rewarding his puppets, campaign funders, political allies and other presidential hangers-on, although naturally he must do that too.

- Done his bit for democracy. Vain he might be, but Jay Kay is not driven by the egotistical Bigmanism that continues to plague African heads of state. His occasional tantrums seem to be reserved for incompetence, as he generally faces vocal opposition and criticism with equanimity. This has served to set a tone: within boundaries, one can cast aspersions all over The Establishment which we obviously take advantage of, especially in the blogosphere. Since so much of democratic discourse relies on intelligently vocal malcontents, things are slowly looking up especially for local civil society. At heart, I suspect he genuinely believes in this whole public service, will-of-the-people stuff.* So long as you don't photoshop his face into a pornographic picture.

But on the flip side...

-Jay Kay and his crew of flyboys have glamorized politics. In keeping with our image-conscious, popular media-driven age, I know. Fleets of Beemers, billboards with His Grinning Beauteousness, performance politics...where is the decorum? I can't help but feel nostalgic for the stodgier times of yore when Tanzanian politicians had to keep it simple. We are going to feel the bite when CCM reaches deeply into the pocket of government to help along its bling-blinging election campaign.

- The money problem. Jay Kay was in Mkapa's cabinet for a decade before he became President, so all those fishy deals and grand corruption cases that we are grappling with now happened when he was around. There are all kinds of implications in that. Naturally, this diminishes the credibility of his anti-corruption campaign.

- That incredible travel schedule. International Community: stop sending him invitations to get honorary degrees, visit obscure Tanzanians Abroad societies, have a chat about securing more aid, toodle around factories, examine the charms of jamaican treetop tours or whatever else you have in mind. He can't resist. The man has itchy feet but it is costing us money and we need him at home. Besides, our Minister of Foreign Affairs is languishing in relative obscurity. Throw the man a real trip or three.

Sure, there's more issues to wade through but I am tired of hyperlinking and isn't this post long enough already? To summarize, IMHO Jay Kay is a pretty good fit for this moment in our political journey: a free-marketeer with a redistributive philosophy, a technophilic democrat, a canny executive and a patient, dedicated, opportunistic man of ambition who lacks the predatory instincts that make the Putins of this world so frightening. While I don't doubt that there are smarter, tougher, cannier men out there who would make 'better leaders,' all in all Jay Kay is at worst inoffensive and at best very useful, which is not a bad range within which to work with for a young African democracy.

*This is an interesting swing of the pendulum: Nyerere was a benevolent despot and intolerant of criticism (populist tendencies), Mwinyi was frankly far too phlegmatic (democratic tendencies), Mkapa was irascible and intolerant of criticism (misanthropic populist tendencies) and Kikwete really, really likes people in general and Tanzanians in particular (democratic tendencies). By this calculation, our next president will be an arrogant intellectual Christian autocrat from the Tanganyikan interior who does not suffer fools gladly... oh yay.

Food for thought from some fellow bloggers.

Yeah, so- is it just me or does our government behave a lot like one of Hand Relief International's affiliates? Start at the beginning, by the way, or you might get lost around the time the Flying Spaghetti Monster and His Noodly Appendage show up.

Speaking of looking for the underlying motivations, Swahili Street offers this interesting challenge:

"What would be the one factor that a future historian of Tanzania might choose, and for which she would have records, to examine similar [cosanguine] political and business relationships of today?"

What an awesome question. I guess that would have to start with a candid description of the ruling class in Tanzania, a horribly fraught issue...