Tidbits

Oy, sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus. Now that the world cup is over- no comment (and by no comment I mean I won't harangue you with a lecture on a. terrible calls and b. why I still won't support video instant reply) I'm back to blogging. Full length snark will return shortly. For now...tidbits!
-Rachel Maddow's video editorial on the war in Afghanistan.
-Awesome graphic of the History of Nuclear Testing (wait for it...)
-I'm already bored with the new Kristof-drama (there's always drama with the Kristof) but it's still going strong in the blogosphere. Here and here should give you all the links you need to drown yourself in anti-Kristof-sass. Here is a more thorough response. I'm still not waving the Kristof-celeb-journo flag- as previously mentioned, but this is (already agreed upon) old hat. 
However, let me offer you some new and hilarious "Africa is scary & We know what's best for poor people!" theatrics. Enjoy.
-Take a listen to Fairuz (Nihad Haddad) featured on NPR's "50 Great Voices".

Listen here!

Nas & Damian Marley have a new album coming out on May 18 (scuse me while I nerd out for a second) and this is the latest song to be leaked. It features K'naan (nerding out overtime) who can do no wrong in my opinion. 

Check out Africa Must Wake Up  

Sidenote: I recently saw Nas, Damian and K'naan perform together and I promise you, you want tickets when this tour happens. 

Jon Stewart and his magical jokes

Remember when TIME did that poll and found out that Jon Stewart was America's most trusted newscaster? And everyone sort of went "Yup, yup, that's about right"?


Last week Jon Stewart opened his show with a short segment on the recent comedy central/south park controversy and I found it strangely poignant. Recently an episode of South Park was created in which the Prophet Muhammad is satirized. Apparently this ticked off a new york based group called Revolution Muslim who posted a written response to what they called an "outright insult" of the Prophet:

"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid, and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

(Which is basically like saying "Dude, I'm not gonna go after you, but someone else might. And in fact I can pretty much confirm that they will. I mean, I don't know who it's gonna be since it won't be me. But it's definitely gonna happen. By someone else. Not me. But it will definitely for sure 100% happen...by someone else who is as yet unknown.")


Theo van Gogh was the Dutch filmmaker killed by an Islamic militant in 2004 in response to a film he made criticizing aspects of Muslim society. 


Comedy Central, the network which hosts South Park, censored the episode by "bleeping out" several words and sections. They also decided not to put it online as they normally do and to not re-air it during the expected repeat-performance time-slot. Though this was all confirmed by a Comedy Central spokesperson, they declined to say it was in response to the Revolution Muslim blog posting. 


Though the creators of South Park have censored their own work on the Prophet before it was just that: self-censorship. This time however, they say that Comedy Central took a red pen to the episode on their own accord. 


During Jon Stewart's piece last night he expertly toed the line between serious commentary and hilarious satire. Jon (also hosted by Comedy Central) recognized that what had happened was definitely censorship but suggested that it had been done to protect staff. After revealing that Revolution Muslim was a group based in NYC, and subsequently protected by Free Speech he thanked the audience for how well they've handled the barrage of religious jokes over the years. After playing a montage of past clips in which all religions, including atheism ("The religion devoted to the worship of one's own smug sense of superiority) were equally manhandled in the tradition of The Daily Show. 


Then Jon launched into an interview with his "Senior Islamic Correspondent" Aasif Mandvi, asking him what he thought about the controversy to which Aasif responded "Well, What am I Jon? Every Muslim in the world? I represent all Muslims?" to which Jon smirked, shrugged and replied "Well in this building actually...". When Aasif was asked if he would be offended by a depiction of the Prophet in some form (Islam forbids the depiction of Muhammad) to which Aasif responded in an unusually frank tone, that while being a "Liberal Muslim" he would in fact be uncomfortable and that he can "understand people being upset about it". Did anyone else find this to be a particularly brave acknowledgment and then subsequently do an internal "wow-that-reaction-is-uncomfortable" double-take? Pretty poignant for The Daily Show.


Aasif then berated the New York based group, saying "Here's what's more upsetting; someone in the name of a faith that I believe in, threatening another person for doing it" because "A, It's just so 12th century and B, I don't like having to walk around wearing this suit". He then stood up and turned around to show the audience that his suit-back was covered with an American flag. 


Bravo to the writers of the Daily Show for telling the truth in style. 

Places where maybe the winner isn't the one who gets the most votes: Sudan edition

Sorry for the hiatus!

I'm currently nerding out over the voting in Sudan. The landmark elections started on sunday, were meant to end on Tuesday, and are now being extended until Thursday due to a delay in delivering ballot papers to polling stations. It's Sudan's first multi-party election in 24 years and the vote includes the next president (I'm going to go ahead and bet a giant monetary sum on the winner here. No takers?) and the 450-member National Assembly. Additionally governors, legislative bodies of the 25 states and a regional Southern president and 171 seat assembly will be chosen.  This might seem like a lot but seriously don't worry because the ballots have gorgeous beauty shots of the candidates on them. All one billion candidates.

The current prez of Sudan and everyones favorite dictator is Bashir who currently holds the honorable distinction of being the first sitting head of state to have an arrest warrant issued by the ICC on him. It's no big deal, just 7 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for that whole Darfur debacle. 

The elections are a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 after two decades of civil war between Sudan's North and South. Provisions of that treaty also include 2011 elections for Southern independence- the outcome of which Bashir has said he will respect. Which seemed slightly fishy. 

So far voting is shaping up to be pretty corrupt and not real. Here and here for just a few "These elections are fake" reports. A bunch of important opposition parties have boycotted in light of the fore-mentioned fakery which is a little bit of a deja-vu treat as B won the last two polls thanks in part to a large opposition-party boycott. One of the main parties to boycott was the Sudans People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the dominant party in South Sudan. After announcing a seemingly full boycott, the leader Salva Kiir announced that in fact SPLM would be running with the exception of elections for country-president and spots in Darfur. Um. There's been serious speculation that the SPLM is stepping aside and letting Bashir and his party win in order to ensure the 2011 referendum on Southern independence. 

In light of all of this there was a recent call for a delay in election to which Bashir responded in his usual reasonable manner:

 "We have accepted the arrival of foreign observers for the elections, but if they ask that the vote be postponed, we will expel them. We expect observers to say whether the elections are free and fair, but if they intervene in our affairs, then we will cut off their fingers and crush them under our shoes." 

- Very cool song and video by Alsara and Oddisee created on behalf of the Girifna Movement (Arabic for "we are fed up", a group started by young Sudanese citizens working on getting the vote out). HT to the awesome Africa is a Country blog, which has also posted the lyrics. 

-On why this might be the most confusing election ever. 

- Some photos from the BBC

Tidbits

-Love this song by Tanzanian Danish band Mzunga Kichaa . (HT to Mo'dernity, Mo'problems)

-Saudi Arabia has an "American-Idol-esque" show where contestants compete by reciting poetry instead of singing. Thumbs up! Thumbs down for the scary response female contestants get.

-"The Lady Gaga" of first ladies.

-The Rise of Islamo-Erotica. 

-Just no.

-50 things you didn't know about Africa! Or maybe you did and this is just a list of 50 things I didn't know about Africa.

Tidbits

-No, you don't know anything about Mexican food. Especially, as it turns out, Salsa.

-Nepal: It's okay to be Gay! If you're rich! Three cheers for equality!

-Somali pirate business model. It's a real thing. 

-Africa's growth chart! Look how big they're all getting! ...kind of.

-Harsha Bhogle gives us the story of cricket in India and how it's shaped the country. Totally worth the long run-time for the "Mumbai Style" advert for the sport. (Hattip to Spam)

- Recently, I've been revisiting the incredible Bela Fleck's 2009 album "Throw down your heart". In it he teamed up with musicians in Africa and the States to create a very very cool project. Check it out. 

Okay, I'm not walking up a 39-story building.

Two interesting articles on Land and Home- and maybe the relationship between the two.

- The Urban Think Tank, an architecture practice based in Caracas with strong ties to the US, focuses on ways to build up slums/barrios. The approach is interesting as they aren't trying to rid cities of slums, but rather figuring out ways to enable communities to better them. (For everyone doing the cringe right now, just keep reading!) By "respecting" the growth and need for barrios they have developed various projects, arguing that slums present a would-be-standard model of living and instead of being destroyed should be improved. Recently they helped develop the Metro Cable system, a cable car system that connects barrio communities to the Caracas subway. Pretty awesome considering the alternative would be an unwieldy thirty minute climb equivalent to walking as high as a 39-story building.

True, slums are usually seen as an unwelcome byproduct of various events and the product of poor governing. However UTT argues, it gives communities a chance to proactively create their own homes and thus bear responsibility for them.

I like the idea of improving slums versus cutting them down- in the past that has just led to displacement of entire communities who inevitably will have to go and build housing elsewhere as the people who get rid of the slums rarely build apartments in their place. But I got a little squeamish when the architects seem to dismiss issues of safety:

" John Mutter, Director of Graduate Studies in Sustainable Development at Columbia University, says there is not enough focus devoted to safety in settings like Venezuela's barrios. "Earthquakes kill people because buildings collapse," he points out. The tragedy in Haiti illustrates this risk. The aftermath of natural disasters in rapidly urbanized areas makes most professionals shake their heads and point to poor planning and policy, but Mutter [The architect in question] considers this a typical "outsider" perspective, one that runs contrary to the trend in development toward empowering locals. "

-Awesome post from Tales From The Hood (Swoon!) about the fundamental importance of land to people and its place in sustainable aid/development work. Brings up issues of refugee/IDP camps and that whole can of worms.