Monday, June 30, 2008

CHRIST

My dear Christian brothers and sisters
Fear not the Armageddon and the looming lake of fire
Pray instead, for the courage and ability
To turn the other cheek
And dare to love your neighbor as yourself
Making the rapture a marching band
And the lake of fire a caressing wind

Saturday, June 28, 2008

How To Love The Bomb

The past week started with a cause for celebration. The long awaited deal between his majesty King Jong Il of North Korea and almighty Commander in Chief Bush sarted taking some significant shape. Those of us interested in the issues of nonproliferation smiled a little, but some of us also have it at the back of our mind that we cannot yet put on our dancing shoes.

However, the UWC fellows and Interns at the Center for Nonproliferation decided to go out on the coast of California to consult the goddess or god of nature on the ensuring matters. It was then that we realized that each one of us is a jack of all trades, but a master at none. Nevertheless, nonproliferators would do whatever is necessary to stop the bomb.

As for the UWC fellows, it was time to consult the good old belief that there are no problems for us, only challenges...challenges they were. In the end the strategy worked and the reactors were demolished. For security reasons, we can only show you what is on record. But you can contact the producer for materials off the record...trust me, they are entertaining. All we need is love...well, maybe.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Soccer: A Diplomatic Ball

This magnificent game of dribble and shoot-on-goal is to many an opportunity to booze, wear funny garments, body-paint, walk nude or sing and dance. No matter the category you find yourself, soccer has become one of the most efficient instruments of global diplomacy and unity. Every time we are together, whether it is for the various continental club leagues, regional championships, nations’ cups, and the almighty World Cup, we are moved by the tears of winners and losers together. We celebrate our individual countries and clubs with a splendid display of national and club regalia, forgetting the issues at home, and holding ourselves only to the rules of the game, to win by fair play. In such gatherings, the only constitution that matters is the world football federation, FIFA.

We can all agree that our world is full of skirmishes and rough edges at every corner. It is appalling and real that we have not solved the problem of Darfur, Somalia, Sri-Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia, Uganda, nuclear armament, terrorism, immigration, discrimination, civil wars, and all other forms of bigotry. We are also confronted by a battle against natural disasters such as earthquakes, climate change, drought, famine, and what Fanon refers to as ‘rape of the environment.’ But throughout history, soccer matches have brought adversaries together in the same open space to wave their flags and sing songs of love to their national heroes. Even in countries at war, we come across youths sharing the pleasure of soccer on dusty roads and street corners. Albert Camus is known to have said that ‘everything I know I learned from football.’

Soccer players are the only group of diplomats who have fans in the most obscure areas of the globe. Sometime we cannot help but wonder how every youth in the hidden villages of Africa wants to emulate not President Bush or Blair, but people like Maradona, Pele, Beckenbauer, Zidan, Beckham, Essien, Ronaldo, Opong Weah, Zlatan, Eto, Figo, Ballat, Kanu, etc. We celebrate champion nations like Argentina, Brazil, France, Nigeria, Cameroon, England, Germany, Sweden, and rising African countries like Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana. Everywhere in the world one can be assured of fans of Man. United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid, Bolton, etc. In the spirit of the game of soccer, we are champions of the ball. Whether it is the players on the pitch or the supporters in the stands, we feel what Shaggy, in this amazing soccer song calls the ‘rush.’ The rush of winning, losing or just good play by our favourite players.

However, in every aspect of our lives we cannot escape the curse of being human. In Nietzschean rhetoric, the curse of man is that he was ‘once a child.’ Even this beautiful game is sometimes susceptible to the cruelty of angry fans and overzealous players. We often hear rumours of match fixing and racism. But we should never allow the bigotry of the nonchalant few to overshadow the beauty of our game. Our soccer heroes have also taken their success on the pitch to numerous philanthropic and humanitarian endeavours. Many players and clubs have their own foundations and charities all over the world. We also encounter people like Beckham, Thierry Henry, George Weah, Ronaldo, etc as Unicef’s good will ambassadors, inspiring children and revealing destitution in the most wretched areas of the Earth.

As long as soccer exists, we must continue to feel the rush from all corners of the globe and celebrate the warriors who stand firm for our nations in the battlefield of soccer. Whether they win or lose, we must cheer them for engaging in the greatest diplomacy of our time. In a world full of civil wars, poverty, and other forms of human sufferings, we must never relent to feel the rush from a diplomatic ball.


Friday, June 13, 2008

Demo-cracy: Your Role

When elections are over, rhetoric on democratic governance often neglect the power of the ‘demos’ and focus on the delivery power of elected leaders. The people are also made to believe that their powers end at the ballot box every four or five years. This phenomenon is mostly real in acclaimed democratic countries such as the United States and Scandinavian countries. My speculation is that the monotony of the comfort of successful democratic countries leads to apathy and inaction. People no longer see themselves as engaging in a revolutionary action especially when it has very little to do with the homeland. The patriotic spirit required for democratic action can fade away when political change seems to lead to very little difference in ideology or political doctrine.

Taking the Lincoln definition of democracy for instance, “the government of the people, by the people and for the people,” we can admit that true democracy is now practiced only in very remote areas of the world. In case you are still wondering where I am leading you, then ask yourself whether you deny your government’s activities. If your answer is yes, then you need to reclaim your democratic right to sanction the actions of your elected representatives. Some of you are already thinking about the impossibility of sanctioning a government’s action alone…yes you should, because that’s not the point. The collective action of a majority is the fundamental pillar of a democracy that must be implemented for sanctioning a government. After all, it was the same collective that guaranteed their mandate to rule.

If you have been following recent developments abroad, you must have come across the news on South Korean nonviolent action against the government. The protesters are angry that South Korea has accepted to resume imports of US beef, which were suspended in 2003 after an outbreak of mad cow disease in cattle there. They accuse the government of failing to safeguard their health, despite government assurances that the beef is safe. Some cabinet members have offered to resign amidst this organize manifestation of demo-cratic power.

This is not the first time we have witnessed the power of the demos. If you live in the United State or Indian, you already know that the Civil Rights Movement and the Ghandian Nonviolent Movement were demo-cratic endeavors; the bravery of Tiananmen Square in China, the crushing of the Berlin wall, popular overthrow of Ivory Coast’s Robert Guei, the very recent orange revolution in Ukraine, are all evidence of practical demo-cracies…our rights as citizens not only to elect our leaders, but to hold them accountable for the power invested in them, always.

This is not a call for people to take over their government at every blunder, but we must remember to always make our governments aware that they are accountable to US, the demos. When governments get away with lies, declare war without our consent, and condemn in public the lives they live in private, we must never relent to practice our demo-cratic rights. If we vote them, they must deliver, otherwise why vote?

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Journey To Monterey

I believe some of you might be wondering where is the lion's den. I have decided to go into early retirement in Monterey, California. After several vain attempts at Job applications, I decided why not start life upside down by retiring and rejuvenating for a productive life like you have never imagined it. California is the right place for such early life adventures. I have made a short video for your pleasure.


But on a more serious note, I am planning to resume a summer fellowship in nonproliferation studies at the Center for Nonproliferation Study in Monterey, California. Not quite an early retirement, but Monterey is not a bad deal for an intensive study in nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. After seeing the beauty of this coast and the purity of the air, I will do anything within my power to stop any tyrant from playing with nukes.


Otherwise, I am currently learning to be a good cook and hoping that everything will be well. I miss you all, and I hope to visit most of you whenever I can afford to do so. In any case you are all welcome to come to California and hopefully study some nonproliferation methods with me.


In other matters, congratulations to all my friends who are Obama supporters. I wish you a victorious election year! I have enjoyed the entire primaries, and I hope Obama will give America the leadership it deserves. The World needs America, the America I knew when I was just a little boy living in a refugee camp in Guinea, the America I saw rescue its citizens during the war in Sierra Leone, the America I saw in schools as members of the Peace Corp, the America I know through you my good friends. We need that America!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

EVEN LIONS HUNT SOMETIMES!

Even the lion hunts sometimes. I have now graduated from college, and the good old days of dining hall meal have ended. This means that from now on I will be my own chef, well, at least until I marry a traditional Sierra Leonean girl. It is amazing that I have been fed all my life, and now I have to prepare my own meal. However, the kitchen remains an exclusive business for women in Sierra Leone. I know my feminist friends are now debating their responses, but trust me; it is simply a matter of division of labour and specialization. My mother wasn’t the cook at home just because my father wanted it that way, but since my father was the breadwinner, as is the case with most Sierra Leonean families, my mother did her own service at home.

This whole cooking adventure is a matter of self-taught. I am my own maestro, experimenting with various condiments without a recipe. I started with basic pasta and meat source. My good friend Peter Brock, who is a maestro chef in his own right, contributed a simple advice: “Jo, remember to put salt in the water before boiling the pasta; it will taste better.” In such peculiar matters, any contribution is golden.

It is rather unfortunate that most of you cannot be here to try my pasta para el Lion, especially Brian McGowan, who was my first adviser on culinary affairs before he left. I must admit that my first year job in the Skidmore dining hall also came in handy. I will also add that I now understand why Peter is always excited about cooking. It is quite a pleasant activity in itself…the smell of vegetables, the boiling of water and the transformation of various condiments into edible stuff. I also had some background reggae music to help me through the process. By the end of the cooking I was quite hungry from dancing in the kitchen. I had a sumptuous meal which was the work of my own hands.

While the food did not conform to conventional recipe, as Skidmore students you cannot agree more that creative thought matters. I promise you all a creation of my own hands in the kitchen whenever I visit or vice-versa. I am looking for vegetarian ideas too. Don’t be surprise if you find my recipe on the cooking show…well, my cooking show…and it will not air in France or Italy.