Africa and the ICC

The AU recently called on the ICC to refrain from prosecuting African heads of state.  Numerous African leaders have complained that the ICC practices “selective justice” noting that only Africans have been indicted by the court.

I’m of two-minds about this.  First I am generally skeptical of big purportedly international organizations like the ICC, UN, etc.  The international consensuses that they claim to represent are rarely, truly, international or consensual.  And it is appalling that the ICC has only indicted Africans.  Sadly, if we are to have an ICC at all (something I am not sure about), surely there are badies all of over the planet worth bringing to “justice,” not just Africans.  Is such selective justice just?  I doubt it.

On the other hand I have individually no real sympathy for those African leaders who have been indicted.  It is likely they all deserve it.  Furthermore African leaders, who are often not the most popular bunch either within their own countries or outside of them, are not doing themselves any favors in the court of public opinion by forming a “kraal” as it were to protect their own. 

One can condemn the selective justice of the ICC and at the same time those African leaders who have been indicted by it.

In Support of Malema

Juju’s new political party the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) had their official opening ceremony a couple days ago.  At it he slaughtered several cows and talked about the resistance of many white South Africans to relinquish “stolen” land.  He also talked about the need for political leaders who were “intellectuals,” people who read, who were “thinkers,” and not pawns of Western neo-imperialist interests.

Malema is certainly a polarizing figure who gets way too much press.  He is reckless, rude, and shows little respect for authority figures.  All of which contributed to his ejection from the ANC.  

But Malema also often speaks truth to power and his continued presence in South Africa’s political scene should be welcomed by all.  The people he represents will not be silenced by his absence, nor should they be.  For their concerns are real and valid. 

Everyone, black or white, should be concerned with the slow pace of transformation and the “land” issue in South Africa.

Everyone, black or white, would be a fool to believe that white privilege has been eradicated. 

Most would agree that President Zuma is not an intellectual, that he is not “a reader.”  Malema is certainly not the only one to have voiced this concern.

Many in South Africa black and white are dissatisfied with the ANC’s leadership of the country particularly in regards to corruption and poor “service delivery.”

Now I disagree with almost all of Malema’s policy agenda.  But the fear and hate that this agenda garners particularly among white South African’s is utterly unwarranted.  The annoying refrain that South Africa could still become another Zimbabwe is simply not credible anymore and is insulting to the millions of “born-frees” and otherwise, black and white, who are earnestly struggling to forge a Rainbow Nation from the wreckages of Apartheid. 

Extremity breeds extremity.  For those who complain about Malema’s extremeness, they should look towards that which he is reacting against.   Neither is pretty.

K-Pop Reality

Watching K-Pop Star and Super Star K, Korea’s versions of American Idol, can literally bring tears to my eyes.  There is something about young Korean kids striving so hard to attain their dream of K-Pop stardom that gets me everytime.  And the judges, particularly Park Jin Young on K Pop Star, are so much better than those on American Idol.  All admit that they are all a bit too obsessed with the “gam dong-ness” (감동) (roughly translates as “touching-ness) of each performance, but damn it, I do feel touched most of the time.

So I was really annoyed to read an interview of Brad Moore, the drummer for Busker Busker, which is currently the biggest band in Korea, in which he slams the producers of Super Star K for treating its contestants like prisoners and basically faking the whole show.

Now of course I was naïve.  This is not the first time the K-Pop industry has been criticized.  But still it makes me sad. On the other hand I often wonder who is more unreasonable, the consumer for stubbornly desiring to believe in the realness of “reality tv” or the producers for stubbornly refusing to deliver it.   And the more I think about it the more I blame myself “the consumer.”  We all construct our “realities” through a variety of means, facebook, fashion, blogs, etc.  So why should we demand, or even think possible, anything else from TV producers?

Admit it you just don't like her

Two days ago the president of Malawi, Joyce Banda, fired all her ministers.  A government corruption scandal dubbed "cashgate" forced her hand.  Donors were getting angry and her prospects for winning the upcoming election next May were becoming dimmer by the day.  They are so dim in fact that it is pretty well understood by many in the country that getting rid of the ministers will not be enough.  She still has a lot of convincing to do.

Frankly this stuns me a bit and leads me to believe that many Malawians particularly in the South and Central regions are happy that they now have a respectable reason to publicly dislike someone whom they have always disliked privately.  A darling of the international community Banda has never garnered equally widespread support at home.  Even Malawian women leaders have largely kept their distance.

The complaints all seem to coalesce around the idea that she has not been "transformative enough."  But I can't help believe that for a large percentage of Malawians who have never really embraced Joyce, this complaint masks a stubborn refusal to change rather than a desire for more of it.

Let us remember the narrow margin by which she squeaked into power in the first place following Bingu's death.  Much of the country would have been quite happy to usher in Peter for continuity's sake rather than embrace the "radical" change of a female president from a different political party.

To this day the sheer unexpectedness of Joyce's presidential reign has left many of the previous powerbrokers in the country with a bad taste in their mouth and resentment over their subsequent need to scramble to find their footing within the new administration and PP.  Joyce's willingness to simply reshuffle many of Bingu's ministers in her cabinet was a compromise with this element.  Far from wanting transformation, the minimal changes that came were unexpected and unwelcome.

Finally the latest "cashgate" saga was triggered by someone in Banda's administration trying to affect change, and look where that got him.

Now the above is not so much a defense of Joyce as it is my reasons for being skeptical of those who claim to dislike her because of her lack of "transformation."

Constructive Running Away

My wife (who is Korean) was telling me how her friend and her husband back in South Korea had just taken out a large loan to purchase an apartment far away from her husband’s parents.  In Korea there is a lot of inter-generational stress between daughter-in-laws and their mother and father in-laws, particularly when the daughter-in-law has children.  Instead of trying to reason with her in-laws my wife’s friend and her husband thought it would be better to move away.  The loan and because of it her necessity to continue working, was the price of greater independence.

Last year I was speaking to a Malawian friend of mine who explained to me that one of the reasons that many young men in Malawi desire to travel away from their hometowns to work was so they could escape, temporarily he was quick to add, their dense familial relationships and obligations.  Saving money in such an environment, and hence preparing for the future was difficult.

Without objecting in anyway with the decision of my wife’s friend or Malawian men, I do find it odd how we as human beings are so loath to reason with those close to us but so quick to do so with those comparatively distant.  We will discuss all day the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the actions of politicians or celebrities and come to agreement or not.  But often we find it easier to simply run away from reasoning with those close to us. 

And perhaps that is for the best.  Considering the unlikelihood of an amicable compromise and the costs of unamicable relations, avoiding the issue may be the most constructive course of action.

Often I hear Westerners saying “if only so and so changed their attitude about so and so things would be better.”  But often creative solutions such as running away are more practical and realistic while at the same time they often provide opportunities to people that they wouldn't otherwise have.

What's a species?

“A community, or a number of related communities whose distinctive morphologyical characters are, in the opinion of a competent systematist, sufficiently definite to entitle it, or them to a specific name.”

-Charles Tate Regan, 1926

There are of course other definitions of a species but they all pretty much epistemologically boil down to the one above.  One might protest that another classic definition i.e. "a species is known when two of it's members can produce fertile offspring" is better.   But even this definition is not really definite, look up hybrids, and in any case is not always adhered to by taxonomists.    

Genetics won't help you either.  At some point, if the term species is to have any meaning at all, somebody, and we have given these people the name "taxonomists," must make a judgement call as to what amount of variation in morphology or genetic code, as Regan puts its is "sufficiently definite to entitle it" the rank of species.  

In this sense new species are never actually "discovered" as is commonly asserted, but rather created by taxonomists according to arbitrary, no matter how rationale, rules. 

Next time you read in Nature about the discovery of a new species of insect in the Amazon, know that it is hogwash.  The species was created, not found.  Admittedly thinking this way feels weird.  We are so used to knowing that a species is something definite and discover-able, like gravity, that to think of it as a construct is actually cognitively difficult.

First Post Intro

I am starting this blog for the same reasons that most people do; to record their thoughts, share what interests them and dialogue with those who might stumble upon it.  I am a doctoral student studying the history of science and technology in non-western contexts and the owner of a couple very small businesses in Africa where I live and soon in Asia as well.  I have another blog but that it has become more orientated towards my businesses and I feel often that topics I would like to discuss would be inappropriate if posted there, hence my reason for starting this new one.