NWSF Bullet: Clinton in the Congo

The Associated Press is reporting that US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was in the Congo, yesterday, announcing that the US is going to give 17 million dollars to stop the "epidemic of rape directed mainly at women and girls by government troops and rebel groups fighting in the region."

While countries on the African continent do face challenges, when these stories are put out it gives the impression that the challenges are a direct result of tribalism or African black on black crime. Kinda like what goes on in the 'hood where you have black folks killing each other for no apparent reason. (To hear the media tell it.)

The truth is that areas like the Congo are victims of historical colonialism by European nations. In the case of the Congo, it came at the hands of King Leopold II of Belgium.

In his book written in 1946 , "The World and Africa ," Dr. WEB Dubois wrote that one of the worst affects of colonialism was "the complete and deliberate breaking-down of cultural patterns among the suppressed peoples."

He also used this quote:

"the invasion of family life, the ruthless destruction of every social barrier, the shattering of every tribal law, the introduction of criminal practices which struck the chiefs of the people dumb with horror-in a word, a veritable avalanche of filth and immorality overwhelmed the Congo Tribes."

Instead of taking at face value news reports of how terrible life in Africa is, we should research how European colonization played a major role in the problems that the continent is experiencing.

We must realize that the violence in Africa between the different factions in the Congo did not come about by accident.

Neither did the fighting between the Bloods and Crips in America.

Facing Racism on Facebook

Facing Racism on Facebook:

Boycotting the US Boycott of WCAR

Paul Scott



"What we have here is failure to communicate."


Although this is a classic line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke," it could also be used to sum up the feelings of many Americans in regards to the boycott of the upcoming UN World Conference Against Racism by the United States and several other countries.

On April 20, nations will gather in Geneva Switzerland to discuss racism and its many degrees of ugliness. However, the US has announced that it will boycott the event because of the possibility that topics such as Zionism, reparations and the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade will be on the table.

Why would a nation that has just elected its first African American president do such a thing?

Perhaps the reason is that since we haven't had the courage to have an open and honest discussion of race within our own borders, we are hesitant about airing our dirty laundry before the world.

Philosophers have long posed the question whether or not man has the capacity for self condemnation. In the case of the Obama Adminstration the answer is, obviously, no.

Even though, Attorney General Eric Holder raised eyebrows a few months back when he chastised America for being a nation of cowards when it comes to facing race, it seems that the scope of his criticism was limited to home grown racism. Even when the issue of race is discussed domestically, the discussion is usually unbalanced. Either one practices racism or is the victim of the practice and the victims of racism have been people of color.

Historically, the US has never taken too kindly to the efforts of those who had the audacity to attempt to expand the struggle of black people beyond the borders of America.

One only has to look at the governmental persecution of such black leaders as Marcus Garvey and WEB Du Bois, who sought to place the plight of African Americans within a Pan Africanist context.

Also it is more than just a conspiracy theory that even though Dr. Martin Luther King's stance against the Vietnam War and Malcolm X's threat to bring the Civil Rights struggle before the United Nations may not have, directly, contributed to their early demises, the actions did result in increased federal surveillance of their activities.

The interconnectedness of America's Civil Rights movement and the global struggle for African Independence cannot be denied. The Civil Rights movement was effective, largely, because of the struggles of African nations against European colonialism. Also, the end of Apartheid was, at least, partially due to the efforts of college students who fought for the divestment of American interests from South Africa.

As African Americans, we have a right to sing our blues before the world about the problems that we still face in America such as disproportionate unemployment and police brutality without our voices being drowned out by government bureaucracy.

To have a country that is the home of millions of the decedents of the worst atrocity known to man (the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade) refuse to participate in a discussion about racism is not only an insult to the present generation but to our ancestors whose bones lie at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

We must boycott the US boycott of the World Conference Against Racism.

And how do we do this?

Our children have shown us the way.

Almost every American teenager is involved in some sort of Internet social networking via Facebook, Twitter, youtube etc, which gives them the ability to connect with other teens around the world, at will. We must use this new media to circumnavigate the blockade to global fellowship imposed by the US government.

While countries are meeting in Geneva April 20th -24, we must engage in a great global conversation using the tools that we have readily available; laptops, iPhones, etc to raise the issue of racism and its global impact on oppressed people. No Warning Shots Fired.com has already set up a social network group on Facebook called "Time to Face Race."

So, yes Mr. President, Americans will take part in the World Conference Against Racism; if only in cyberspace.


Paul Scott is a minister, activist and blogger who writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

NWSF Bullet: Is Zimbabwe Being Attacked by Cholera ?

There is a story running this weekend that most black folks who are obsessed with football or busy giving merchants their hard earned money so that little Shaquana can have some "Santa Claus" this year, will miss but according to the Associated Press, the Herald, Zimbabwe's state run newspaper is reporting that some believe that the United States and Great Britain are responsible for the cholera outbreak in their country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081213/ap_on_re_af/af_zimbabwe

The original story that appeared in Zimbabwe's, the Herald is here:


http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=1541&cat=1


Say it ain't so!

Would these pillars of morality and civility really conduct biological warfare on a poor African country?

Now, most black folks who don't read anything deeper than "urban novels" with stories about how Drug Dealin' Big D got shot by Latoya's baby's daddy" or watch bootleg Tyler Perry movies, every night, instead of watching African history documentaries by Dr. John Henrik Clark probably won't pay this story any mind.

But those of us who have read "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney, "Africa in History" by Basil Davidson, "Medical Apartheid" by Harriet A. Washington or "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Patricia Turner know that history teaches us that such an event is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Then again, most folks who believe that the Bloods and Crips, in this country, murder each other because "that's just what black folks do" and that malt liqour, crack and high powered assault rifles just magically find their way into poor, black neighborhoods, will refuse to believe that such a thing could happen no matter how much information you place in front of them.

I guess the old English dude, Thomas Gray was right when he said ," Where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise."

However, whether you believe it or not, as Hip Hop group Mob Deep once rapped on "Survival of the Fittest,"

"There's a war going on outside, no man is safe from..."

Especially if you're black...