Afro Carib festival

 I love Steel Pulse and not having seen them for around 10 years, when I got the info that they would be the stars of the Afro Caribbean festival to close out Black History Month in Miramar, wild horses couldn't prevent me from attending.

Despite the close to an hour commute 

and the long, sometimes tedious wait for them to perform, it was worth every minute.

They must have read my mind as they performed hit after hit from the moment they hit the stage!👏👏👏💞.

It was like a musical explosion in slow motion.⚡🌄🌅🌪️✨

 Oh what a night.

Beautiful Nigerian prints on display 

The Nigerians were the only Africans who had displays at this festival. (Never saw any Caribbean booths beside Jamaica's either!😡)

This Nigerian mother and daughter showed off their outfits.

Jollof rice from Nigeria 

Sonia cops a pose

This band delivered some good African drumming 

Shuga from Montego Bay was good

This dancer kicked off the show. It started almost an hour late though😡.

Vincentian Soca warrior Skinny Fabulous got us out of our seats.

The covered area was eventually fairly full but overall, I expected a larger crowd.

You see, it was promoted as a free event for those wanting to sit on the grass or bring their own chairs.

 However, the covered area up front was being sold for $150.00. Very few people took up that offer though, so they eventually opened up that area to all us 'plebians.' Hence it looks crowded now!

Teflon tried his best but people were tired of having to wait too long for Steel Pulse.

Its actually the first time I ever attended an outdoor event at Miramar.

It is a much larger city than my own Tamarac and with a population twice the size as ours. And the fact that it is dominated by Jamaicans is obvious, based on their apparent love of Jamaica time.😁👍.

The festival was quite good though, although some performers could have been left out.

of

But what the heck, Steel Pulse saved the day.

The thieving British!

A few of the less expensive and exotic items left in Ghana after the British finished plundering.

I did an immediate double take on hearing this news headline on BBC; “ UK to loan back Ghana's looted 'crown jewels'”.

Thinking I had misheard, I made sure not to be distracted when the story itself was being read.

No, the headline was not incorrect.

The entire story was shocking.

Ghana was the 'gold coast'.

 The gist is that although it is well documented and   recognized that Britain was once one of the most thieving empires of old and it acknowledges that most of the treasures in its museums were purloined, “….some national museums in the UK - including the V&A and the British Museum - are banned by law from permanently giving back contested items in their collections, and loan deals such as this are seen as a way to allow objects to return to their countries of origin!”  

The story continued; In receiving the stolen objects which are now being loaned back to the owners, Nana Oforiatta Ayim, special adviser to Ghana's culture minister, told the BBC: "They're not just objects, they have spiritual importance as well. They are part of the soul of the nation. It's pieces of ourselves returning."

These particular items now being ‘loaned to Ghana’ were stolen in 1874 when British troops launched a punitive expedition against the Ashante kingdom, ransacking Kumasi and taking many of the palace treasures.

Spears versus muskets

You know, over the years, one has heard rumours about various British institutions refusing to return sacred stolen property to Africa, but this BBC story aired on January 24, 2024, was still shocking, as these items had been among the crown jewels of the Ashante Kingdom.

The BBC's story also pointed out that the plundering of the crown jewels of Ashante Kingdom by Britain, was by no means an isolated affair, for the habit of stealing crown jewels from Africa was well established. Another example is the Benin Bronzes. 

These are the thousands of sculptures and plaques looted by Britain from the palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in modern-day southern Nigeria.

 Nigeria has been demanding their return for decades but up to now, they haven’t been able to get them back.

I guess Britain may loan them to that nation one day!

The victims of the massive theft that Britain carried out in Africa over the centuries should stop accepting this arrogance as a fait accompli.  This contemptible attitude by the descendants of the exploiters is totally unacceptable. 

All stolen artifacts, especially those of spiritual and cultural importance should be returned forthwith.

Surely the descendants of the nations whose cultural items were looted by the invaders should not be accepting loans (of their own things) from Britain in order that their people can learn the great history of the tribes that were once were supreme in Africa!

What amazes me, is how little feedback there has been to this story both in Britain and among their many victims, for I have been searching the internet extensively and the silence is deafening.

I wonder if the generations to come will be as docile in accepting these indignities?

It is not only in Africa that this happened but also in Australia and New Zealand. Could this maiden speech delivered in parliament in New Zealand in her native Maori language by that country’s youngest parliamentarian, 21-year-old Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, be a sign that the descendants of the victims will be a new less accepting and compliant in the future?

Or is it just entertainment for the over 7 million people who have seen it so far?

Watch it at; https://youtu.be/xPiJftYyovw?feature=shared and tell me what you think.

Maybe I am just grabbing at straws!

YOUTUBE LINK; https://youtu.be/P36aeUDbqXE

Jottings on Ghana

There are 54 nations in Africa and although I have only visited just over 10%, this was my first trip to West Africa where you find Ghana and from where most slaves were shipped. 

We stayed at Labadia Beach hotel and I loved the carvings in the lobby and the general feel of the place. 

In general, the hotel was lovely. Here Cheryl and I lounge around by the pool😁

The 'beach' is however the Atlantic Ocean, so it is rough and cold.

That's the ocean across which the murderers sailed to transport slaves from Africa to the west.

I am told that when it rains, Ghanaians use nets to collect items, even gold, that wash up from the deep where many ships lay.

The beach is full of vendors' stalls

On arriving in Accra, I was immediately stuck by how much it looked like my capital city,  Kingston. 

The roads are choking with traffic and the sidewalks are overwhelmed by vendors' stalls and hustling pedestrians. And many buildings and developments appear totally unplanned in certain areas, just like in Kingston.

One Ghanaian Cedi resembles a Jamaican $20 coin. Their currency is much stronger than ours, 10 Cedi to 1 US$.

However the population of Accra is twice that of Kingston (Accra 2.6 Millon Kingston 1.5 million) so it's proportionate.

The organizer of our trip is Samantha Daniels out of Texas. However she is now Ghanian citizen and is actively encouraging African Americans to invest in Ghana. 

As a result she has been designated Queen Mother.

Queen mother Samantha (right), donated some essentials to a primary school principal in Krobo.

I learned that in Ghana, boys and girls attending government schools from kindergarten up to University level, must wear their hair trimmed very low. 

It is said this is to prevent them being distracted by vanity!

At first, I was appalled to hear this, but if it works for them, who the hell am I to criticize? 

Just a week ago, I hear, four rebellious would-be Rastafari, were expelled from public school for growing their hair.

 In Ghana today, elections are due this year.

The presidential election will be held in December 2024, so political activity is in full swing.

The main parties are NPP (currently in government) and NDC, the main opposition party.

A presidential term is for four years but the president can run for a second term. 

 If a president is ousted after four years, he can try for a comeback of another four year term some time later.

Ghana is not known for a wide variety of animals like what you see in say, Kenya or Botswana, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a group of baboons hanging out on the sidewalk on our way to our naming ceremony in  Odumase Krobo.

 (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/06/a-cultural-awakening.html?m=1)
 

I also learned that Accra is close to Benin, the oil- rich state of Nigeria.  (1.20 minutes by air,7 hours by car).

Well, we saw some evidence of Nigerian affluence right here at our hotel where quite a few birthday celebrations were being held. 

The one that really stood out was the 50th birthday celebrations for a Nigerian lady.

Her party started with breakfast on Friday, dinner and dance Friday night then a big ball on Saturday night followed by clubbing.

A ballroom being constructed for the Saturday night ball for the 50th anniversary.

Angel wing decoration in front of the room where the Friday dinner and dance were held.

Friday morning breakfast to kick off the 50th anniversary celebrations.

Fabulous outfits were everywhere from Friday morning.

A portrait of the lady holding the birthday bash.

Seeing it all brought back my regrets for turning down a proposal from a Chief from Benin many decades ago.

He had come to Jamaica to marry his 5th wife, bringing in  his guests in by two private 747's no less.

At the reception, he and I were dancing  when he declared confidently that I would be his 6th wife if I would put on some weight.( Yup, I was once slim😁). 

I laughed then.

Now I am crying for being so stupid when I was young!😡

Some scenes from downtown.

Aid agencies and Africa

 There are so many ignorant people in this world that when you mention Africa, most think it’s a country, not a continent with 54 independent countries. 

Like on every continent, you will find a few countries at war causing thousands of its citizens to become refugees. Other countries on each continent have corrupt leaders, so the country is in dire straits and a few face other problems which severely affect thousands of its citizens.

So, Africa is not the only continent where you will find people living in severe poverty, which is what the western media always portrays.

You really can’t blame the media totally though, as for decades, Aid agencies like UNICEF, Red Cross etc, in their quest to get funds, have used the most terrible pictures of human suffering to paint a picture of Africa.

I have been to sections of 4 countries in Africa so far, and yes there is poverty and suffering, but you can find such images anywhere, including the rich USA.

What traveling to Africa has made me realize however, is how damaging the campaigns the Aid agencies have been using, are the entire continent.

 For it is their images of suffering which the media often portrays as the norm.

On the other hand, rarely do you see mention of how technically advanced and progressive countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa etc, are.

And did you know that in numerous regions throughout Africa, money is now virtually useless, as everyone at every level only use their phones for all  financial transactions?

They are way ahead of the west in this technology!

How many people know that Africa is home to the world’s oldest university?

Yes, there are pockets in Africa where without the help of Aid agencies, life would be intolerable for thousands of people but we also need to recognize that many so-called Aid agencies are just money making entities for greedy companies, countries and individuals anyway!

My beef is that rarely do you see the natural beauty of places on the continent being portrayed or hear news about how educationally/technologically developed some places are, 

And over the decades, some writers have even tried to move Egypt out of Africa, to maintain the propaganda about the non achievement/development of black people.

While I won’t go as far as saying all Aid agencies are working hand in hand with white supremacies to paint a picture of Africa as the Dark Continent or even made up of shit house countries, there has to be a better way of helping those who need it without maligning the entire continent!😡

Our forever half full glass

From last year, many of us Jamaicans waited with bated breath, when news leaked out that there would be a cabinet reshuffle. For we had really become fed up with the all too regular scandals, so we hoped that some persons would be removed as far as possible from power.

What was delivered though, was nothing but a big wet squid, best met with a long yawn.

What I found disconcerting too, was the increase in the size of the already too large and mainly ineffective Cabinet, with the addition of the new Ministry, Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs.

OMG. So, if Delroy Chuck has proven to be an ineffective minister, why wasn’t he just fired and someone more competent appointed to replace him?

Well, it’s only taxpayer’s money, so I suppose it’s there to be wasted!

So, here we are with a brand-new bureaucracy, new minister, new permanent secretary, new staff, new office, new furniture and on and on.

I don’t know if Mrs. Malahoo-Forte was reading my mind when she outlined the main task of her new ministry as being to fix the current “chaos” in the legislative process.

Yes, chaos there definitely is, in terms of keeping our laws up to date. But isn’t that the major role of the Ministry of Justice?

They haven’t been doing that at all I agree, so as a result, many Jamaicans can’t get justice anywhere.

Remember what the late great Peter Tosh said decades ago? Without justice there can be no peace.

Is it any wonder that so many turn to violence in our crime-ridden country?

But do you fix that problem by creating a new bureaucracy or just disbanding the current ineffective one or even, more simply, getting rid of the lazy, incompetent people in charge and get effective staff?

While I only mentioned the chaotic one, every other function this new ministry is supposed to deal with, is already a function of the Ministry of Justice. Problem is, they are dysfunctional!

But I guess Chuck is being kept on for the very same reason as so many others like the following are; Mike Henry, Karl Samuda, Horace Chang….…jobs for the old boys.

As to Bobby Montage, he had fast become the Paulwell of the JLP.

The JLP had gotten a big mandate, partly based on a commitment to deal effectively with corruption, but they are only continuing along the same road and with even greater intensity. One would therefore have hoped that at the very least, Montague would have been moved as far away from any type of governance as possible.

Again, it’s just jobs for the boys and little or none for the girls, so now the Prime Minister’s office is packed with old boys tripping over each other!

Luckily, I was not holding my breath that this government would have been any better than any other!

Good News

It’s not only bad news that has hit for us early in 2022 though, for we can always depend on our athletes to do us proud and give our spirts a lift.

Once again it is our bobsledders.

For the benefit of the young and uninformed, snow-free Jamaica sent its first bobsled team to winter Olympics way back in 1998. They did not win a medal, but it was so historic and heart-warming, that Disney made a movie about our boys. It was called “Cool Runnings” and it was/still is, a worldwide hit.

 If you have never seen it, go now and if you have, go again.

As usual, no-snow Jamaica was a trend setter in 1998, and since then countries like Trinidad and Nigeria have followed suit, which is great.

We are all excited and proud that once again, our bobsledders have qualified to compete in the upcoming winter Olympics to be held in Beijing next month.

Despite the damn virus, once the Chinese hosts allow the public to attend, I am sure the stands will once again be brightened up with Jamaican colors. For not only do many Jamaicans live in China, but also, Jamaicans from all over the world will be going there to cheer on the athletes who can always be depended on to make our spirits rise, while the politicians pick our pockets and otherwise screw up our lives.

I guess you can therefore say that our glass is half full.

https://youtu.be/Pxt7O4qvjhk

 

Poor God.

Some bible tooters will tell you that the good book proclaims that the love of money is the root of all evil.

I wish to disagree whole heartedly however as our experiences on this earth has shown that more people have been massacred over the love of religion than the love of money. 

The latest reminder of this comes from Nigeria where some 5oo persons, mainly women and children, have been chopped to death this very week, near the city of Jo. These victims were supposed to be Christians who have been massacred by their Muslim neighbours as a reprisal for the massacre of Muslims which took place in January this year.

 History is replete with this type of brutal savagery in the name of religion, something I have never heard happening because of the love of money.

For if its not not genocide in Bosnia or Darfur it is as they say "sectarian violence" in India, Iraq, or terrorism in the United States (what do you think 9/11 was?) and Britain. And who remembers the brutal religious taerrorists in Uganda who kidnapped children and forced them to kill. Their name? ....... " The Party of God."

Poor God. The atrocities being carried out in Her name are really outrageous and one wonders when biblical teaching will be updated to keep up with the realities of life.

DO THEY DESERVE A PENSION?

According to a recent report in the Jamaica Observer, a number of former politicians are living in virtual poverty as sickness and poor pensions make it impossible for them to meet their very basic obligations. 

 If that article was meant to cause us to feel sorry for our politicians, it hasn’t. For the simple fact is, we have too many reasons not to think very highly of politicians. The first has to do with their actions over the many of our indsependence, which have contributed to Jamaica becoming a murder capital in the world, if not the first in terms of the per capita murders committed, certainly among the top three. 

This is a direct spin-off from the actions of those politicians who in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and probably to some extent even now, armed poor, uneducated, inner city young men with guns to kill and intimidate their political opponents. Naturally, we have concluded that if politicians are willing to commit murder and arson and indeed ANYTHING (as the chairman of the Peoples National Party (PNP) said) to gain power, then the prize must indeed be great. 

The ANYTHING was again demonstrated recently with what has come to be known as the dual-citizenship issue. The amazing thing about Jamaican politicians also is their brazenness. This was so crassly demonstrated in parliament last week by Jamaica’s first female prime and current Leader do the Opposition Portia Simpson Miller. According to reports, Ms. Miller went to Parliament and declared "I have said to the country over and over that this side will not take power unless it is by way of the ballot.” This statement was made in reply to the Prime Minister’s accusation that the PNP was taking Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members to court to try and get seats in parliament on the basis that some of those elected had dual citizenships with countries not allowed under the Constitution. (The strange thing is that while the PNP is challenging the illegibility of some JLP MP’s, they too have at least two members of parliament on their benches who would be disqualified on the same grounds!) However, while denying that the PNP was using the courts to foist person’s rejected by electors on them, Mrs. Simpson told a blatant lie. For that is what the case by the PNP via Abe Dabdoud had been all about.

 For readers will recall that in the first instance, the Chief Justice had ruled that Vaz was ineligible based on his dual citizenship but the seat should not be automatically turned over to the PNP but a by-election should be called. DABDOUD THEN WENT TO THE COURT OF APPEAL CONTENDING THAT THE SEAT SHOULD BE AWARDED TO HIM (THE PNP ) WITHOUT A BY-ELECTION!

How then could less than a week after the by-election, a big “Christian”, a former prime minister and current Leader Of the Opposition, have the gall to declare in parliament, "I have said to the country over and over that this side will not take power unless it is by way of the ballot?” I suppose I am being naive in expecting better since at her inauguration Portia said she would work to eliminate corruption, but less than 2 years later the party that she leads accepted $30 million from Trafigura, a company which was trying to have its contract renewed to lift oil from Nigeria, without being able to give a plausible explanation why Trafigura gave their party the $30 million in the period leading up to the general election of 2007!)

 Anyway we do not only get bad impressions about our politicians from how we see them operate as a lot of what happens in Jamaican politics is done under cover. However,their own colleagues fill the gaps, for when you listen to things they say on and off the platforms about their opponents, you would not be incorrect in concluding that there is no such thing as a decent Jamaican politician! Importantly too, it is because of the devious, corrupt and incompetent activities of our politicians why this well endowed paradise has become one of the most impoverished nations in the former West Indies, only being outdone by Guyana. Yes, I guess there have been honest, hardworking decent politicians. The problem is, we have no way of knowing which of the politicians that have actually been in office over the years were “decent" for the legacy they have left us since independence is so rotten. So forgive me if I can’t feel sorry for politicians and am even cynical about the report that some are living in poverty. In fact, in my mind,the real question is, do they deserve a pension at all?