#what with all this talk of colonisation and whose land what is it does make me wonder about what the bigger voices in these convos would | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thelivebookproject · 3 years

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Talking Books With @beautifulpaxielreads!

[What is this and how can I participate?]

Important note: I haven’t changed or edited any of the answers. I’ve only formatted the book titles so they were clearer, but nothing else. Because I’m incapable of shutting up, my comments are between brackets and in italics, so you can distinguish them clearly.

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[Image description: a square titled “Know the blogger”. Name & pronouns: Ellie, she/her; country: Australia; three adjectives to describe her: friendly, warm & easygoing /end]

1. What do you think about planned/compulsive readings in schools?

I think it's good in one way because it teaches kids to think critically about what they read from a young age - more important at this time than ever.

Having said though, it does depend on how compulsory reading is taught. Probably every former student could tell a story about teachers who inspired them, but they probably also have teachers who made their subject dull. Or put them off reading for life.

It also depends on the books taught. Teaching the classics are all very well and good, but they do not represent even a tiny fraction of the books that are out there.

One thing being on social media has taught me is that it's so important for kids to see themselves in the media they consume, so they should be exposed to a wider selection of books featuring characters of different races, sexualities, faiths, disabilities etc. How many kids and teens today would see themselves reflected in books written over a hundred years ago?

I said earlier that thinking critically about what you read is good, but I do thing there is such a thing as over-analysis. Critical analysis is good, wringing every last drop of meaning out of a text is not. Yes, books should challenge us to think differently, but they should be enjoyable to read too. Reading should not be a chore.

[I couldn’t agree more with this! Nothing else to add.]

2. Last book that made you question your intelligence because "oh no, I don't think I understand anything"?

I think it would probably be The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.

I consider myself quite an intelligent person, but that book had me tying myself in knots trying to figure it out.

[Me too! I felt stupid trying to figure it out the whole way, haha. It really was very convoluted.]

3. Do you follow new releases or are you content with backlist books?

I follow new releases mainly if they are by authors whose work I have enjoyed in the past, or if they are the next book in a series (which I actually WANT to read, which isn't always the case). Occasionally I check out new release lists via Tumblr and GoodReads, but it's not something that I'm too invested in.

I do also try and keep up with my backlist, but the problem is I keep finding new books that interest me, which makes my TBR list longer.

[To summarize] So I guess my answer is that I do follow some new releases, but not all. And I do try to keep up with my backlist, but I inevitably get sidetracked.

4. Are there any books you'd recommend about a topic you care about?

Like so many indigenous peoples around the world, Aboriginal Australians have suffered great injustices as a result of colonisation. The Stolen Generation, where up until about 50 years ago, mixed race Aboriginal children were taken from their lands and families to be raised as white. Massacres in the early days of colonisation. Higher than average rates of incarceration. Deaths in custody. Systematic racism in bureaucracy. They only got the vote in the late 1960s. The list of injustices goes on. Over the years many Aboriginal people have fought for justice, for land, for recognition of their pain.

And the fight goes on, especially in the light of the Black Lives Matter movement. More and more this year I've been recognising that I need to be reading more books by Indigenous Australians and to educate myself on their struggles for justice.

I'm in the middle of reading a memoir by Australian Aboriginal actress Miranda Tapsell, entitled Top End Girl. She talks a lot about the problem of representation within the arts/entertainment industry and the racism that still goes on. How she realised early on that she needed to create opportunities for herself rather than rely on others to do it for her. She talks about writing, producing and starring in a film, a romcom called Top End Wedding to show that Indigenous Australians (and peoples of colour) deserved to have these positive, feelgood stories told too.

And to show that the book is not all serious, she also talks about - at the same time as she was getting ready to star in her movie about a would-be bride - she also met the man who she herself would marry. Parts of this book are actually hilarious.

I'm also reading Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia a diverse collection of stories from both famous and everyday Australians about their experiences growing up as an Aboriginal person.

[Super detailed answer, thank you! I definitely need to educate myself better on the struggles of the people over the world because, though I knew of the Stolen Generation, I don't really know much about Aboriginals or other Indigenous people all over the world 😅 It’s just so difficult to keep up with everything!]

5. Favourite historical era to read about?

I'm a big historical fiction fan, so you've asked me the right question there!

I'll read books set in most historical areas if I find them interesting, but I do find myself drawn to books set in the 19th century. I can't really explain why, maybe it's something do with the fact that this period stands on the edge of modernity, like it's almost the world we know but not quite.

Free space!

In terms of extra things I'd like to say, I'd like to once again emphasise my particular passion for promoting Australian authors, particularly of the Young Adult variety. The range and diversity of voices coming out of our country right is incredible and I would urge anyone interested in finding out more to check out @thereadingchallengechallenge 's blog - she does fantastic work in this area.

[Here is Em’s interview in case someone has yet to read it, and here is a list of new YA releases by Australian authors!]

You can follow her at @beautifulpaxielreads and on The StoryGraph.

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Thank you, Ellie! This was really detailed and interesting.

Next interview: Wednesday, 14th of April

#talking books with #booklr #thelivebookproject #april 2021

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ilovefunreading-blog · 5 years

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The Leadership of a Child

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

Isaiah 3:12

1. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY DISORGANIZATION

Then he will appoint children to rule over them, and anarchy will prevail.

Isaiah 3:4 (NLT)

If you cannot tidy up your own room you must be a child. If you cannot clean the places where you live, you must be a child.�� If you cannot clean up your city you must be a child you must be a child even though everyone calls you the mayor or the minister.

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child. The leadership of a child results in anarchy and disorder as the bible predicts. Whenever you see disorder, chaos, disorganization and confusion you can assume that the leadership of a child is at work.

2. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF SERIOUS ISSUES AND IMMINENT DANGERS

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child. A child’s mind is dominated by a lack of understanding of the serious issues and dangers that confront him.

Leaderless people usually have dirty eating places and dirty toilets. Little children live in dirt and do not understand what it means. If children are left alone, filth and dirt multiply. That is why no one leaves children alone. They will not clean, sweep or wipe anything.

This is why nations in which children are leaders have filthy toilets and huge drains filled to the brim with dangerous rubbish. The chief characteristic of cities that are ruled by children is the rubbish and life-threatening garbage that can be found everywhere. The childlike leadership does not sense the connection between these death traps and the welfare of their people. Even if they sense the connection they do not know what to do. All they want is Mummy or Daddy to give them a solution.

Leaderless nations have destroyed their educational system of their countries not knowing the implications of what they are doing.

3. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY NOT understandING anything that is a little complex

Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things… but be mature and wise in understanding matters of this kind.

1 Corinthians 14:20 (NLT)

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child. When a person is in leadership and has the mind of a child he does not understand anything that is a little complex.

It is obvious when an unlearned person is at the helm of affairs. He does not understand the implications of his statements. One leader boldly declared he would never repay the debts of his country. Another such leader gave every foreigner twenty-four hours to leave the country with a maximum of twenty-four kilos of luggage. Yet another leader printed billion and trillion dollar notes for his people to use to buy a loaf of bread. Under his leadership, one loaf of bread could cost as much as one billion dollars. Such people do not read nor do they understand the implications of things they are saying and doing.

Leaders of poor countries have swallowed the concepts of globalization and free trade with their negative implications of de-industrialization, de-agriculturalization and de-population of cities. Industries, farms have been wiped out in nations which wholeheartedly accepted these policies without understanding the complex implications it would have on the rest of the nation. Richer nations like the USA and Australia absolutely rejected the idea of freely trading with England at the expense of not developing their own industries. They understood the complex nature of simply opening their borders to cheap imports.

These complexities are not obvious to leaders who are like children. The fact that someone who sells iPads and iPhones and iPods will always be at an advantage over someone who sells oranges and cocoa, is not easily understood by leaders who announce that their emphasis will be on agriculture.

How can a child understand the practical implications of terms like diminishing returns, increasing returns activities, synergies, innovations, perfect markets, imperfect markets and so on? And yet entire populations are led by people who have studied these things in school but do not know how to apply them in their nations.

4. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY HAVING FUN AND CELEBRATING.

To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another; and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.

Luke 7:31-32 (NASB)

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child because. Achild loves to play, play, play! If you do not develop leadership skills you will be like a child who is only concerned about celebrations, entertainment, anniversaries and parties instead of the serious business of leading.

The leadership of a child is dominated by a lack of understanding of the financial costs and implication of things. You must understand leadership because in the absence of good leadership abilities you have people who are called leaders but who waste their resources on ceremonies, anniversaries and clothing rather than permanent things.

Children talk about things they cannot and will not do. Children declare that they will become singers, astronauts and doctors but they do not become any of these things. A person with the leadership mind of a child loves to attend numerous meaningless conferences, make statements and declare lofty goals but implement none of these things.

5. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE DESIRE TO ACQUIRE MANY TOYS

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

Ecclesiastes 10:16

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child. The leadership style of a child is characterized by the desire to acquire many toys.

A child wants more toys than anybody and does not care whether no one else has a toy. In some nations it looks like there are children (politicians) fighting over toys, which are the people of the nation. The childlike leader loves to have toys and playthings.

This is why the first items that are purchased by such leaders are usually cars, presidential jets and personal mansions. They greedily acquire the things they have admired in their childhood dreams. Recently, a new government came into power in a poor developing nation. Believe it or not, the news was dominated for weeks by arguments about official cars that they were using. Like children who had found a new toy, their main concern was the cars that everyone was using. Such leaders have their eyes on the money, the cars, the women (the dolls) and the mansions. Indeed, woe to the land whose king, leader, president, pastor, prime minister, commander is a child.

6. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE INABILITY TO FIND PRACTICAL AND REALISTIC SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS

Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

Ecclesiastes 9:15

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice the appropriate principles of leadership. If not, you may lead people with the mind of a child because the leadership of a child is characterized by the inability to find solutions and has only one solution: to call Mummy or Daddy. The more childlike you are you believe that your mother or father knows everything and has the solution to all your problems. My children have asked me for everything under the sun, believing that I have it in my room. From scissors, clippers, cello tape, batteries, chargers, thread, needle, money – they think I must have it hidden somewhere. A child lacks what the bible calls ‘phronimos’.

When a person is in leadership and has the mind of a child, he only has one solution for every problem. Children solve problems by just saying, “I will tell my Daddy. My Daddy will beat you.”

When a child leader is working he only thinks of getting money from somebody somewhere. When he has a problem he says, “It’s a lack of resources. Please give me some of what you have.” Usually, such people feel that money is the only solution to their problem.

For instance, children cannot even turn the key to a door. In some countries, it is not allowed to have keys on bedroom doors because the children may lock themselves inside, unable to perform a simple function like turning the key to unlock the door. Children cannot practically fix things, arrange things, pack and organize things. It usually has to be done for them.

Many nations have demonstrated that they cannot find solutions to the problems of their people. Many former colonies have made a strong case for re-colonisation because of their ineptitude when it comes to finding practical solutions for the real problems of the people.

Just as a parent is the only solution to many children’s problems, the white man and his money are often the only solution that the black man thinks about. The worst kind of leaders is the one who feels that all his problems will be solved by receiving money.

All my life I have suggested practical solutions to people in third world countries. It has often sounded like idiocy to them. They turn towards me in anger and fiercely reject my practical suggestions to solve problems.

It is an open secret that many ministers of the state receive percentages and cuts of the contracts that they handle. These monies are stashed away in foreign accounts to be used in the years ahead. One day at a forum, I suggested that these ministers of state be given a percentage of the huge contracts involving huge sums of money that they handle, to make them legitimately wealthy and taxable. This would be a form of extra income that they would be entitled to because of the government work that they do. This, I also said, would make them keep their wealth in the country since it would be legitimately earned. Amazingly, people turned on me as though I was out of my mind. One person said, “His morals and his conscience would not allow him to do something like that.” People were simply outraged at the suggestion. Yet, because we reject so practical a solution to our endemic corruption and hypocrisy we continue to have nations with ministers of state who are secretly millionaires and who keep their money out of sight.

A child is theoretical so his leadership style is characterized by the lack of a practical and realistic approach to everything.

Leaders without a practical and realistic approach are abstract, detached and idealistic. Most things are impossible to them. Their ways of doing things are inapplicable in the circumstances. Such belong in an ivory tower because they cannot handle realities on the ground. Numerous meetings and diverse speculations about viability and feasibility of projects characterize these leaders who get nothing done. Woe to a country or a church that has a theoretician as its leader. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish” (Matthew 25:1).

‘Wise’ in this scripture is from the word ‘phronimos’ which means: practically wise, sensible, shrewd and prudent. Those who were not practical and sensible did not make it to the wedding supper. Similarly, those who are not practical and sensible will not make it in this life.

7. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY NOT BUILDING ANYTHING

And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, that he was worthy for whom he should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.

Luke 7:4-5

A child is not a builder. A child plays games and enjoys what has already been built. If nothing has been built he lives and abides in what there is and enjoys it, not understanding what he does not have.

Many third world countries have cities and villages which are not built up. These nations are dominated by people who are often incapable of acquiring land and starting developments. The stark difference between western cities, towns and villages and third world cities, towns and villages is the absence of buildings, roads and other infra-structure. Where the mind of a child rules, there are no buildings, no developments, no maintenance and no infra-structure.

8. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY A LACK OF CONCENTRATION

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Ephesians 4:14

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child because the leadership of a child is marked by a lack of concentration. Children have a short attention span. When a leader does not concentrate on his core functions, he achieves nothing. One of the key principles of warfare is to bring all your forces to bear on one point in order to overcome it. This is why when a bridge is a target of an army all the air, land and sea forces focus on destroying it. All forces must be made to bear on the target at hand.

It is no wonder that third world leaders are unable to achieve much because they have no time or concentration for the work they have been elected to do. Instead of focusing on the problems of the nation they constantly receive delegations of inconsequential visitors to their offices.

In many developing countries, government offices are inundated by relatives, friends and passers-by, seeking favours, jobs and help of all sorts.

It is therefore not a strange sight to see a head of state welcoming countless delegations of all sorts – ranging from religious leaders to singers, footballers, announcers of funerals, visiting traditional leaders and chiefs, directors of newly established NGOs and even people seeking photographs with a president to build up their own prestigious collection.

9. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY FIGHTING OVER POSITION

Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to mature Christians. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life.

I had to feed you with milk and not with solid food, because you couldn’t handle anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,

1 Corinthians 3:1-2 (NLT)

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child because the leadership style of a child is characterized by fighting over position. It is not a strange sight to see a child very happy about nothing. Children are happy when they are able to sit by the door of the car, have their bath first or last. They enjoy positions that are meaningless to grown-ups.

The typical leader of a third world country is in charge of dusty villages filled with impoverished people. He fights for the position of leadership and to be the head of something which is of no consequence. The leader wants the title and the position but will do nothing to help the people.

10. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE NEED FOR INCENTIVES LIKE SWEETS

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child.

Children need sweets, gifts and incentives to make them do what they have to do.

Bad leaders also need cuts, percentages and bribes to make them do their jobs. This canker spreads to everyone until nothing is done without the incentives being paid.

11. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS SUCH THAT no one would work under him if they had A choice

So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, what portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.”

1 Kings 12:16

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the mind of a child. The leadership of a child is such that no one will stay under him if they have a choice. They all know that he does not understand what he is doing. Such is the state of most of third world countries. No one would stay in these countries if they had a choice. As in the case of Rehoboam, eleven out of twelve people would walk away and only their relatives and direct beneficiaries would remain behind.

Some years ago I visited a slave castle in an African coastal city. The tour guide did a good job and took us through the various rooms and horrifying dungeons that had been used to keep the captured slaves. At the end of the tour we came to a little door that was called “The door of no return.” He told us how anyone who passed through this door never came back to the African soil. He would either perish at sea on a slave ship or die as a slave in America.

“Wow,” I said, “that was horrible.” Then I asked a question and got an answer that astounded my entourage of African American visitors.

“If this slave ship was to come back to this castle to take slaves to America again do you think anyone would go on it?” I emphasized, “I don’t mean a normal ship. I mean a slave ship to take you away as slaves and not as tourists or visitors.”

The tour guide answered, “The ship would be filled to capacity and even sink from overloading. We would rush to get on board so that we could go to America as slaves. My African American visitors could not believe their ears.

Why would anyone want to go to America as a slave? Are they trying to escape from the good weather that is found in Africa? Are they trying to escape from the richest continent which has the most natural resources? The answer is ‘No’. They are escaping from the kind of leadership that has turned the continent into a chaotic wilderness without buildings, roads, hospitals, schools and every basic amenity that is found where proper leadership prevails!

12. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY a lack of foresight

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Matthew 11:25

Few children think of the future. You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you will lead people with the mind of a child.

a child is a blind and shortsighted person who has been put in charge of everything. When you are shortsighted you lack prudence. A child does not understand when he is wasting something that he will need in the future.

You must understand leadership because in the absence of good leadership abilities you will not increase your income by fighting little wastes. I know a young lady who recently went to a school that was being run by child leaders. This school was built a hundred and seventy years ago for two hundred and fifty girls. A hundred and seventy years later they have one thousand six hundred students and exactly the same facilities. You would ask yourself why neither the government nor the owners of the school had developed more facilities after a hundred and seventy years of existence.

13. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY a lack of analysis and logical reasoning

a child you will not use data or science much and therefore he will not know the real state of things. But Christ is not only power. He is also wisdom. We need the power and we need the wisdom. Without analysis and logical reasoning there is always poverty.

Childlike leadership is not is non-analytical and non-logical in everything. Children are afraid of ghosts. They believe in Santa Claus, Cinderella and cartoons. Leaders who are like children lead more by superstition and govern more by that than by practical and logical reasoning.

14. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY NOT KNOWING THE VALUE OF MANY THINGS

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the style and mind of a child. A child does not know the value of many things. A child will not appreciate the importance of his uncles, aunties, friends and relatives. A child will tear up your books, destroy valuable possessions, and throw away rings and jewelry because they do not know what they are. People who are not appreciative of the value of things and people will dominate the community. Such leaders do not value nature; they cut down trees and forests, they use beaches as toilets and they kill all wild animals in sight. These leaders allow forests to be cut down and wild animals to be killed under their watch because they neither appreciate nor value things or people.

Children go to toilet anywhere and do not care about such things. Children destroy everything in the house. They cut the furniture and write on the walls.

Eight Things a Child Will Not Recognize as Valuable

1. A good name

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Proverbs 22:1

2. A good wife

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Proverbs 31:10

3. The reproach of Christ

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Hebrews 11:24-26

4. The Church

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Psalms 84:10

5. The Word

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Job 23:12

6. Wisdom

How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

Proverbs 16:16

7. Your soul

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 16:26

8. Your Pastor

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;

And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

15. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY not reading much, not studying much and not buying books

Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right.

Hebrews 5:14 (NLT)

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the style and mind of a child. Little children do not read because they cannot read. A leader who is like a child does not read and does not develop himself.

16. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY not catering for the needs of others, especially for people that are out of your sight

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the style and mind of a child. The leadership of a child is characterized by not catering for the needs of others, especially for people that are out of your sight. Only mature people take care of others. In the bible we see how God expects the mature to minister to others.

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

Hebrews 5:12

Many heads of third world countries have presidential palaces and castles with good roads leading to them. They have running water and electricity. They have their health needs met by foreign doctors and super specialists. Their children go to school in the best schools of Europe and America. But they are simply unable to provide schools for the common people of that country. A leader who is like a child cannot provide hospitals for the people of his country even though he can provide a super specialist for his family. A leader who is like a child is unable to provide water and electricity for the rest of the country even though he can provide it for himself in his presidential palace.

These leaders who are like children, incapable of providing for anybody else are able to provide beautifully paved streets with palm trees leading to their palaces. Unfortunately, the rest of the country is left to rot in the dust. Children simply do not cater for anybody’s needs.

17. THE LEADERSHIP OF A CHILD IS CHARACTERIZED BY the inability to live off what you HAVE

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

Galatians 4:1-2

You must study leadership, understand leadership, and practice appropriate principles of leadership otherwise you may lead people with the style and mind of a child. The leadership of a child is characterized by the inability to live off what you give them. That is why people do not give children a lot of money. They cannot handle large sums of money. You usually wait for the child to grow up before you entrust him with certain sums of money. Just as you would not entrust a servant with so much money, you would not entrust a child with much money.

Many European and western nations have stopped giving money to the underdeveloped countries because they have proved time and time again that they cannot be trusted with large amounts of money. One cruise missile on one American warship could solve many of the problems of these under-developed nations. But America knows too well that giving up one cruise missile for an third world nation will not change much.

Recently, a poor nation’s head of state visited Paris for twenty days. He booked forty-three rooms in a five-star hotel and spent about one million and two hundred thousand dollars for his twenty-day hotel bill. This did not include other expenses, like the shopping bill for his wife and her entourage. The French government is aware of the presence of a child who is spending all his resources because he does not understand what he is doing.

Third world countries beg for loans, grants or gifts rather than working with what they have. Their leaders constantly make claims about what they would do if money were given to them. They do not know how to start small practical things, but would rather call for huge amounts of money. They do not live off what they have but rather have their minds fixed on external sources of money.

by Dag Heward-Mills

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muneerahwrites · 6 years

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The Rain in Spain

[I was trying to be clever but there was no actual rain - rain meaning my tears LEL. I want to share contents of the lessons too inshaAllah but this will come slowly and surely. Bc there was really A LOT. This post is dedicated to my unsorted-out feelings – an attempt to rationalize and understand why I felt what I felt and to attempt to move forward with clarity of heart.]

Came back to SG from Granada to find myself plunged into deadlines and unfinished work. Grappling with jet lag, acne, a worn out yet, invigorated soul, and an unsettled mind, I dragged my body to work for the past 4 days trying to refocus and get myself into my comfortable SG work routine.

I haven’t had the time to reflect properly on my Ramadan and then, the 2 weeks Critical Muslim Studies – on what I’ve learnt and about myself. Why was I crying so much everyday? I mean, I cry occasionally but Spain was something else. I felt like I was ALWAYS crying lol. I couldn’t speak without tears bubbling beneath the surface. The garden behind the school became a regular witness to my tears (and on one occasion, the whole class but I’d rather bury that in the depths of my mind.)

I did not fully understand it at that time, but I concluded in Spain that it was probably for four reasons:

1. PMS is real.

2. I came to learn about decolonial theory and largely expected “head-work” about Critical Muslim Studies. Instead, there were discussions about dealing with the metaphysical catastrophe of coloniality, the counter to that being weeping and praying (Fanon), embracing other ways of being (the soul as a way of decolonising) and that I’ve been approaching the Qur’an or my faith (something I hold so dear to and I thought was the anchors of my always changing life) incompletely, maybe even self-indulgently. I realized that I usually leave my soul out the door when I enter “secular” spaces. Of course, I hold on to prayer and du’a but the reminder that the soul is there with your mind and body as a way of understanding and communicating was such as shock to my system. As I realise this, my body was so still but I felt so moved. Therefore, the tears.

3. I felt inadequate. What was I doing in this space? Neither activist, content producer nor scholar, I entered the space positioned as a student, only to be overwhelmed by everyone else. I felt that I was not fit to talk about decolonisation or liberation theologies. What limited struggles have I gone through as compared to everyone else in the space? I shut my mouth, I listen, I took in everyone’s pain. I felt so much guilt that I did not have my own pain (or I thought I didn’t). What have I done in my life? I have nothing to share that is important in this space. Bc of these negative thoughts, I brought up all my weaknesses as excuses not to engage. I am not critical enough, not eloquent enough, my heart beats too fast when speaking in front of many people. Anyway, everyone needed to speak so I shouldn’t, whether inside or outside class. I concluded that I shouldn’t be here. I felt even more guilty because it’s Allah’s will and plan that I was in Granada and I felt that His plan was wrong. I retreated. Therefore, the tears.

4. Another level of inadequacy was from the fact that I was from Singapore. I have nothing to contribute coming from Singapore. Who cares about Singapore anyway? Was I even Singaporean, being away from Singapore for 5 years of early adulthood. What does being Singaporean even mean?? *Existential crisis* Other experiences seemed more valid, more pressing, more outwardly violent. The need for social justice in other parts of the world was more pressing because people are constantly dehumanised and stripped of dignity. What is Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to Singapore’s ISA and prisons? What is racism and white supremacy in the US and UK/Europe compared to racial politics in Singapore? Was my experience not important? Or was it relegated as unimportant? Did I do this myself or was this another power dynamic that is playing out? I was confused but also, I am not a personality who insists that my voice be heard. (WHY MOO? I need to examine this more?) I was frustrated. Therefore, the tears.

As the classes come to an end plus the long trip back home, I realised that I was crying because of all those reasons and then some. I was mainly crying because I was so uncomfortable. I realised through the classes, my reflections, my interactions with the other participants and with my interaction with Granada as a place, that I am still colonised. It’s not just a theory I use in my research or studies. My self, my being and thoughts are so unchecked and it’s suddenly being called out in Granada. The process of decolonisation of the self, that the summer school was pushing me to do, was/is an extremely uncomfortable one. Therefore, the tears.

Colonial domination is often understood as a historical process that has ended with independence of nation states. It is easy to recognise that there are legacies in our political, education, economic systems but I don’t think I understood the far-reaching creeping fingers of coloniality – it is in the domination of mind, body and spirit. But coloniality didn’t end in 1963, when the British left. It is not just concerns of “unfortunate Third Worlders” and diasporic communities in distant lands, battling corruption and poverty because they lacked the vision and the statecraft of a Lee Kuan Yew. The logics, practices and legacies of colonialism disrupted our local/faith/indigenous epistemologies (ways of seeing, being and understanding), our social orders and norms and forms of knowledge.

Singapore was colonised but emerged as “crown colony”. Someone from Guardian even wrote a whole article about how we “benefited” from colonialism LOL: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/04/colonialism-work-singapore-postcolonial-british-empire We’re so good at being a “modern nation-state” with our policies based on race and hierarchies created by meritocracy – but always framed as having the promise or intention of equality. We (or rather, I will say I myself, Idk about other people) just internalised coloniality (the colonial mindset) so much that we became model global citizens. White masks, yellow, brown, black skins. Wanting to be “modern”, to imitate. But as someone who has multiple levels of otherness (global south, woman, muslim, brown, introverted etc), when I imitate, I never feel enough or belonging to anywhere.

Discussions came up about how we should not to compare issues, but to be relative. And that’s when I realised: The logic of coloniality remains the same – whether we are talking about clear individual acts of Islamophobia in the UK or the state control of our asatizah in Singapore. No matter how it is being framed.

So returning back to discomfort in decolonising the self. The solution was not to retreat to the soul or to some pristine, native state of being. I was called to recognise the narrowness of my “broadened” mind: whose standards are you trying to meet? Whose questions are you answering? What are your own questions? What are the standards and values decreed by Allah? Why did I think or feel my personality, skills and socialisation not enough? Why do I think that I could not offer anything when everyone else could (especially those from the West?) How was I reproducing coloniality even in the way I was thinking about myself in relation to others? I was called to take my sensing and knowing beyond dominant ideas of what was natural, true and good.

Also, I don’t think my highly introverted self was ready for how short of a time, intensely close and intimate spaces (physical, mind and heart) I would share with so many diverse women (mostly Muslim WOC from everywhere). Everyone was so loving, embracing, warm, spiritual but at the same time, brave, strong, eloquent, unafraid of their thoughts and femininity, critical and aware of power and power dynamics and so quick to call out BS and violence when they saw it. They are honestly so aspirational and I have so many conversations/advice embedded so deeply in my mind (or heart? Allahu ‘alam). So honoured and grateful to have met every single one. Farid Esack (an absolute legend) advised us: “our interactions with other people are sacred. No matter how you differ, do not pee [desacrilise] on this sacred space.” Jasmin Zine (or was it Amina Teslima?) also read this hadith at the start of class which explains why some souls feel inexplicably drawn to other souls: The Prophet (pbuh) said: "The souls are (like) an army joined (in the world of spirits) whichever souls knew each other (in that world) are attracted towards each other (in this world) and whichever remained distant and indifferent (there) are disinterested to each other (in this world)" (Saheeh al-Bukhaari)

It was truly a blessed group to be around. I regularly got advice and reminders that were so on point and poignant, I wish I had just took out a notebook to write all of it down. One of the ladies shared Audre Lorde’s concept of self-love as a radical act. I found the quote: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” A few other girls too had a discussion over salty seafood paella haha that self-love requires us to accept our flaws and understand that as Muslim women, Allah is there to forgive us and complete us for anything lacking. Our flaws aren’t meant to be overcome or pushed away, its meant to remind us of our humanity, how everyone is flawed. We can use what we think as “flaws” as strengths. When our life isn’t in alignment or we aren’t what we expect ourselves to be, we shouldn’t blame ourselves. Rather, it is an opportunity to grow and learn, make a change. Listen to yourself, how do you feel. How is your body responding? How is your heart? I need to learn how to cherish my authenticity and forgive the times I forgot my strengths and my power. Rather than treat myself as a blank sheet that can constantly be recreated everyday to be my ‘best self’, I must realise that I have a history, experiences, pains and triumphs that make me complex and valuable, if not to society, then, to God. “Make your voice the clearest and centred in this creative space”, another wise lady told me during the trip.

[Ok I will conclude for now]: Being in St Andrews as someone from “the rest” (from Southeast Asia, Muslim and woman) in a distinctly white space, I never felt fully “integrated”. In a way, I am grateful I didn’t. My sanctuary and solace was being with women of colour after uni and during Fridays. SOAS was interesting for me to dip my feet and see what using post-colonial and decolonial theory looks like in academia. But I think, if I am deciphering my thoughts and feelings correctly, Granada was a proper introduction for me into what a decolonial/liberation/social justice space looked like, it is not only a space for pain to be shared but also one of empowering resistance, love for each other and self-love. It also taught me that decolonising the self as well as histories, faith traditions, etc is going to be a long and uncomfortable process, with a lot of learning, praxis as well as reflection.

what about this theory.

the fear of not being enough,

and the fear of being ‘too much’

are exactly the same fear.

the fear of being you. (@nayyirahwaheed)

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ccc-sarahjaneseddon · 4 years

Photo

Michael Parekowhai, The Lighthouse, 2017, installation. https://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/the-lighthouse

Week 3

What might the work/s be about?

From just looking at the picture you can see that it is a big sculpture of Captain Cook sitting and looking down. Therefore I believe that this sculpture is about the history of Captain Cook and Aotearoa. I have looked at https://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/the-lighthouse and found that the sculpture is titled The English Chanel and its location is Queens Wharf in a house looking building called The LightHouse “The Lighthouse is the house that holds the whole universe as we know it.” Captain James Cook is sitting among neon lights which I didn’t at first know the true meaning behind the lights. The neon clusters are to represent star constellations.

Star constellations from our Māori ancestors, were used as a form of knowledge to be able to voyage in the correct direction by tracking the position of the stars and watching them throughout the nights. Star navigation is important nowadays as we continue to look back at the knowledge of our ancestors. For example in the episode Artefact(watched in communication for makers), Jack Thatcher, talks about how he uses the stars similar to our ancestors to track the direction he is voyaging in. Jack would look at the stars throughout the night and use their knowledge to help him on his own journeys across Aotearoa. This is an example of knowledge from the past still being used today.

My Groups diagram/sketching/notes.

From researching and reading about The Light house our group noted down important information to do with The Light House and The English Channel.

Reading notes

I have chosen Byrt, Anthony (Pākehā). "State house rules: Michael Parekōwhai's sculpture is Auckland's new best thing". Metro, 7 February 2017. I have chosen this reading because it is about The Light House and Michael Parekōwhai’s work that we have chosen to study.

The location of The Light House/ The English Channel is Queen’s Wharf in Auckland.

“The struggle for the retention of this land,” Ngāti Whātua leader Joe Hawke said in 1977, “is the most important struggle which our people have faced in many years. And to lose this last bit of ground would be a deathblow to the mana, to the honour, and to the dignity of the Ngāti Whātua people.”

still, from almost every point around the harbour, you can see that mansion-less strip of green, a tribute to the power of peaceful resistance and the mana of Ngāti Whātua.

Michael Parekōwhai whakapapas to the East Coast

‘The Lighthouse’, a powerful and permanent sculpture in the shape of a state house

Since ‘The Lighthouse’ is shaped like a state house, it looks like a place where someone lives and not a piece of art. I find this artwork interesting because it is placed in a state house and not a gallery. In my opinion the house feeling could make people feel more at home to the art piece rather than being surrounded in a massive art gallery with thousands of people all walking through a bigger building. It can also welcome people to look inside the the building as if they are at someones home or Whare. This building is smaller and you would never guess what was inside unless you knew ‘The Lighthouse.’ I would walk passed this and think that someone lives inside and not expect “That it is more than just a house.”

It simultaneously memorialises Māori resistance, pays tribute to our shared histories of navigation and migration, honours our egalitarian past, and acts as a gesture of permanent subterfuge in the heart of our property-obsessed city

There were cries for consultation (which the public duly got, with over 80 percent of submissions in favour).

it’s a one-to-one model of a two-storey state house. The windows are slightly lower than a regular house so that kids and the disabled can look through and experience the work fully

The artist has thought about how the user will view the artwork and has taken the audience into consideration. Mentioned in Communication for Makers we talked about accessibility for disabled and to always think about how people move around your design. The artist has lowered the windows to allow all audiences to get an experience by being able to look through the windows. This means kids and people with disabilities who are unable to see through higher windows can look at the art piece and not be disadvantaged in anyway. The stairs on the outside are just for show to look like a state house. It also means that some viewers are welcome to look at The English Channel from above. Therefore some audience may be restricted because of their disabilities because they may not be able to go upstairs, but this issue is resolved by having the windows on the bottom. This does have a disadvantage though if they want to look at top. When designing always ask yourself, how will the audience access your art work? Can everyone access your artwork without any disadvantages?

the entire construction budget came from private sources: a million dollars from Barfoot & Thompson and another $500,000 from anonymous donors. Auckland Council’s contribution came through things like staff time, site investigation, research, and consents.

The colour is a steely blue that sits perfectly between sea and sky. Unlike actual state houses, it has fancy copper gutters, which the salt air will gradually oxidise to a shimmering green

Around its perimeter is a wooden walkway that’s more jetty than deck, designed to create the effect that the whole structure is floating. On one side is a staircase, which takes you up to look through the upper windows; halfway up is a landing that offers a perfect, unimpeded view of the Waitematā, like a platform on a cruise ship.

Shutters, another architectural divergence from a traditional state house.

The house itself isn’t actually the most important part of the work. The most important – and exciting – aspect is what you see when you look inside.

when he doesn’t make fun of a cultural convention, but memorialises it, the best example being The consolation of philosophy: Piko nei te matenga series – 12 photographs of arrangements of artificial flowers commemorating battlefields in World War I where the men of the Māori Battalion fell.

‘The Lighthouse’ is one of the very rare works that achieves all three qualities at once. Looking through the windows (visitors can’t go inside) there’s no division between the two floors.

You are able to just walk past the art piece and can go at your own time just by looking through the windows. As mentioned before the windows are the bottom are accessible for kids height or people with disabilities who are unable to look through higher windows.

The only other feature that can be associated with a conventional state house is a moulded fireplace.

it was suggested the work would contain a costly Venetian glass chandelier, a multi-layered reference to New Zealanders constantly looking to the “old world” for cultural affirmation and the crucial role the New Zealand forces played in liberating Venice at the end of World War II

walls are covered in neon constellations, the same star formations that, on a good night, you’ll see when you look up into the sky. They’re also the constellations that guided the first people here and that have been crucial to Pacific migration

Star constellations as I have mentioned before are apart of our ancestral knowledge. When coming to Aotearoa our ancestors would use the stars to navigate the vast pacific ocean on their journey. This navigation was done by tracking the stars throughout the nights and continuously watching the star consultations to track the direction they were heading in. For example, in my own time I use the southern cross to locate the south because it points towards the south and is relevant to Aotearoa star constellations.

Star constellations: were also vital to Captain James Cook’s voyages.

Material = a giant stainless-steel sculpture of Captain Cook, trapped like Gulliver, sitting pensively in front of the fire – a static form whose surface moves like mercury as the constellations reflect off him.

The neon constellations are carefully sequenced rather than simply flashing on and off, so that light moves around the interior – and around Cook – fluidly

Matariki star cluster will rest on the black maire floorboards – but the points will be neon facsimiles of signatures on the Treaty of Waitangi, including that of the flag-chopper, trickster and iconoclast, Hōne Heke.

This connects to Māori history of the Treaty of Waitangi and Hōne Heke. As well as using Matariki star cluster that represents the Māori new year.

The artwork’s location is essential. Like Bastion Point, it is Parekōwhai laying permanent claim, amid a housing crisis, to a prime piece of real estate with a replica of the modest homes that were rolled out across the country by a government that made the welfare and safety of its citizens a paramount concern.

There is also the colonial quirk that the state house, architecturally speaking, is a design modelled on the idealised English cottage and transplanted on the other side of the world.

The state house is modelled on the idealised English cottage - British colonisation of New Zealand?

‘The Lighthouse’ is a state house at the end of Queen’s Wharf. But it’s also Hōne Heke and Joe Hawke. Hōne Heke choped down the British flag pole (my own prior knowledge from primary/intermediate school)

It’s Parihaka, Ōrewa, and The Foreshore and Seabed Act. It’s about being evicted from your home and finding ways to survive, whether in 1880 or now. And it’s about reclaiming what little of your land you can, then making the people who took it in the first place look at you, and confront what they’ve done

Parekōwhai might be a jester, but his job isn’t to entertain you, please you, or make something pretty. You do, however, have to respect it, because it has just as much right to be standing on the end of that wharf as you do.

THE ARTIST SPEAKS

When standing on the end of Queen’s Wharf, it behaves more like a lighthouse and beacon.

The idea engages with the act of looking. You look into the work, and through the work, and beyond the work to the harbour

Within the interior of house, the only domestic feature that remains is the fireplace. The glow from the installation within suggests our home fires have long been burning and the lights are still on.

‘The English Channel’ speaks of navigation, history and voyaging, deliberation and reflection.

This made me question about how not only did captain cook voyage to Aotearoa but our ancestors also voyaged using similar star constellations. Why is this only about Captain James Cook? could our ancestors be included in the art piece because its not only Captain James Cook who did voyage?

How did you come to this reading of the work/s?

I decided to investigate this reading because I felt that since my group has chosen to do Michael Parekowhai, The Lighthouse, 2017, this reading talks specifically about The Lighthouse and its meaning behind the design and how it is relevant to Aotearoa history of Captain James Cook and our Ancestors. For example, the star constellations represent the star navigation our ancestors took on there voyages but also how Captain James Cook voyaged to Aotearoa.

How does the work/s relate to the concepts of Mana tangata, and whakapapa?

Whakapapa and connection to our ancestral knowledge is mentioned through The Light house art work. It incorporates knowledge from our whakapapa - our ancestors using star knowledge to navigate to Aotearoa. It also talks about how the Artist whakapapas back to the east coast and not from Ngāti Whātua. Michael is working with different Iwis because of the location. Michael said “It’s fortunate that ‘The Lighthouse’ sits not on land, but on a wharf above the water. It is the sea that connects the Waitamatā to the East Coast, to the West Coast and encompasses the entire country. Throughout Michael he says “is the most important struggle which our people have faced in many years. And to lose this last bit of ground would be a deathblow to the mana, to the honour, and to the dignity of the Ngāti Whātua people.” This shows how he has honoured the mana and power of the people. According to https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/3437 the word mana means “power and status accrued through one's leadership talents, human rights, mana of people.”

What other recent events, concepts or contexts can you connect them to?

As mentioned above during the reading it talked about how some of the neon stars related to our knowledge of navigation, but also to do with the event of the Treaty of Waitangi, although this is not a recent event, it still shares importance with us today and our history. It also overall connects to Captain James Cook and the event of colonising New Zealand. The big statue is him sitting down with neon collations surrounding him. Also The Lighthouse is designed to modelled on the idealised English cottage and transplanted on the other side of the world. Therefore has involved more in-depth of the colonisation of British and New Zealand state houses.

"Artefact", by Dame Anne Salmond, series 1, episode 1, Maori Television, Monday 7th May 2018. https://www.maoritelevision.com/shows/artefact/S01E001/artefact-series-1-episode-1

Byrt, Anthony (Pākehā). "State house rules: Michael Parekōwhai's sculpture is Auckland's new best thing". Metro, 7 February 2017.

John C Moorfield, Te Aka Online Māori Dictionary 2020 https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/3437

The Lighthouse, Auckland Live, : Michael Parekōwhai's sculpture https://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/the-lighthouse.

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why-this-kolaveri-machi · 7 years

Text

Fic: flights of bodhi

rogue one fic! where i’m still desperately trying to find my bodhi-voice.

Summary: most days he’s learned to live with it; he does for the rebellion now what he did for the empire and tries not to think too hard about what that means. other times he tries—and fails—to swallow the screams echoing through all the empty spaces in his head.

Warnings: SPOILERS for the movie. hints of anxiety, ptsd, permanent brain damage. unabashedly bodhi-centric. (also for those of you who know tamil: the title is a horrible pun and i’m... not really sorry.)

flights of bodhi

the air outside the base on yavin 4 is hot and sticks in bodhi’s throat; he usually returns with lights flashing on the back of his eyelids and a pounding headache if he goes outside for more than a few hours. in that time he imagines that the sweat pooling at his neck and dripping down his chest is the sap of (the succulent that he and his friends used to cut open, its taste tangy and burning and forbidden) and sand between his fingers, flowing, soft like silk yet blistering beneath his fingernails. if he squints just right, shading his eyes against the glare of the sun, he can even see the silhouettes of (old temples, stark conical structures against the pale blue sky) in the ziggurats.

for all that his body screams at him later, it’s almost… meditative. it’s a welcome reprieve from the controlled chaos within the base, where every second look, every over-loud greeting, every dropped hydrospanner, grates against his overstretched nerves. it’s not quite that he’s treated with suspicion or that he has reasons to fear the alliance—he’s met several other imperial defectors, soldiers and starfighter pilots mostly, and he’s treated with some respect and maybe even camaraderie—but because in a way it reminds him of the empire. not in specifics, obviously: the alliance can never achieve the near-geometric perfection of imperial operations, their precision, their unchanging uniformity, and the years of rote training that it took to achieve that. but something about the vast stretches of chrome and blinding durasteel, the sounds of ships being repaired or readied for flight, the preponderance of pale-skinned humanoids, the endless cycle of missions and briefings and downtime punctuated by games of sabacc and too-loud, too-cheerful drinking songs and jolts of panic and grief, reminds him too much of the life he had supposedly left behind, and—

—and sometimes the familiarity pulls at his nerves, plays them like (the long-stringed instrument his mother used to play with oiled fingertips, the notes just this side of jarring), and he can’t breathe, can’t explain why to the people who are worried even though he wants to—

he steps outside then, and yavin 4 is both nothing and everything like jedha and he stands there in between the sap and the sand and the temples and the swell of pain behind his eyes and hums an old prayer that he can’t quite remember.

(the jump to hyperspace after scarif is poorly calculated and poorly done and it’s only by sheer luck and what chirrut insists on calling the force that they are not vapourised instantly. cassian and chirrut look moments away from death and jyn and baze can’t tear themselves away from their side and bodhi—bodhi has a corpse in the co-pilot seat, blood dripping from his head and nose and ears, a death grip on the controls and mind grasping at protocols and co-ordinates that he should know—that he should know!—and coming up with scraps of sensation instead, durasteel under his fingers and salt on his lips and the terrifying, surreal feeling of being lost in a cavern that’s lost in a bubble that’s lost in space—)

bodhi’s pretty sure that he had one brother and one sister, both elder to him, but he was always so surrounded by cousins, and cousins of cousins, that those kind of distinctions never really mattered. he grew up on the laps of multiple mothers, on the shoulders of fathers and uncles and unruly annas who would sneak him into sandspeeder rides despite his protests. he would fight with his cousins over (fluffy white seedcake that would stick between his teeth in webs and explode with spice on his tongue) and eating the last bite of the last dish because one of his older brothers (whose smile was always crooked thanks to a twice broken jaw) swore that that bite would bring the person eating it all kinds of luck. (it’s a silly superstition—and one, on retrospect, that got them to clean up their plates without a lot of scolding or effort—but bodhi often found himself waiting for the last morsel at the academy, tossing a pleased smile at no one in particular.)

he didn’t have—or need—words to distinguish between all these people who filled his life until they started teaching basic at school. it didn’t take long for petty fights to fester into resentment, or for competitions for affection to end in fractured relationships, all of them drifting apart long before the empire permanently broke their world.

and yet—

on the day bodhi left for the imperial academy to train, more excited for his first trip on a spaceship than anything else, the cousin with the twice-broken jaw came to him and pressed a box of (rolled sweets where sugar was stretched like paper around buttered fruits) into his hands and told him: i’ve saved the last of these for you. bodhi never said thanks, but he made those sweets last for as long as he could. that was the last time he’d had jedhaen food, the last time he’d had anything outside of freeze-dried rations that tasted like regurgitated bantha feed (and was probably regurgitated bantha feed).

somebody manages to find somebody else on yavin 4 who knows to make jedhaen dishes, even in the midst of chaos and calamity and, well, rebellion, and bodhi is too touched to refuse when he is presented with the seedcake he remembers from childhood. he has long grown unused to its spices and so he spends the rest of the daily cycle curled up in his quarters, sweating, folding and unfolding his legs as his stomach cramps. the dish wasn’t right, though, and he wishes he could explain exactly what should go into it and how and why, but he doesn’t even remember its name, and the best he can hope for now is that he doesn’t vomit out the last morsel.

(he doesn’t and will never remember how he landed at the base—how did they make out his garbled call sign? how did he locate the hangar when everything is so jumbled in his head?—but he’s there when they have to peel him out of the pilot’s seat, there when bacta is slapped over open burns so deep he can’t feel the pain, there when the pain of regrowing nerves makes him scream, there when jyn clutches his hand and hums something that reminds him of galen so violently that he leans and manages to vomit on her shoes. he’s there when chirrut has a hand over his shaved head, murmuring a prayer-that’s-not-really-a-prayer, and there when cassian talks haltingly, painfully, about how the death star plans they’d nearly died retrieving were missing.

he’s there, and he tries to stay, but sometimes—)

bodhi remembers how excited he was to join the imperial academy, back before they’d started forcibly conscripting citizens, before mining ruthlessly for kyber, before they’d drained jedha of life and promise and then swatted it aside like so much scrap metal. the man who would declare himself emperor had been elected their leader in a planet so far away it might not exist at all—after all, without (tightly-regulated) hyperspace lanes and holonet, the idea that the galaxy entire could exist at one time, all together, is just ridiculous. bodhi and (the cousin with hair twisted into intricate braids and studded with ornaments that moved like a constellation every time she turned to laugh at him) would spend hours at the observatory looking at distant nebulae in turn and wonder if this is what this system had looked like to the colonisers who had arrived there thousands and thousands of standard years ago. we’re looking into a time-machine, she’d say.

when the empire first came for them, it seemed to bodhi like an opportunity to leave the time-machine and—live the galaxy as it lived, impossible and exhilarating all at once. he was far from the only one to sign up to work for the empire in that initial wave, but he would be one among the few survivors who would witness this outreach turn into outright occupation.

nothing could dampen his enthusiasm in the beginning—even the impersonal chrome and durasteel, the uniformity, the discipline, the geometry and sheer edges of everything that the empire built seemed like an exhilarating change from the heat and controlled chaos of home. bodhi quickly developed a reputation for both being a great student and a bit of a troublemaker; he’d get into frequent fights with his classmates, usually, at first, in defence of himself and where he’d come from, and then eventually, in defence of others.

(sharp, it had said on his report. quick to anger when provoked.)

after his initial training he signed up to pilot a starfighter—and, for a while, it seemed like he would have no problems getting his own ship. he had a gift for mechanics, good reflexes, and absolutely no idea whom he was going to fight, after all.

the first time he got into a sim for a test run, however—

he failed. miserably.

the thing is, bodhi had no idea what to do with his guns. training them on targets and firing them and watching them disappear in short-lived clouds of superheated gas felt as profoundly remote and, and weird as looking through their time-machine back home at things that didn’t exist anymore. the first time he was indiscriminate, shooting down enemy and friend alike before his instructor bodily pulled him out of the sim, eyes flashing, and screaming, as though for the fourth or fifth time, what are you doing?!

it didn’t get any better on his next try, or the one after that, or the one after that. he could fly his way through a keyhole but combat situations either had him completely paralysed or completely out of control. he hated himself for the dissonance, almost as much as his instructors hated it and tried to train it out of him, but after two years of training that felt like he’d been whittled down into the shape of a pilot than actually become one, they swat him aside much like they would jedha a few years down the line.

hauling cargo across the galaxy, he told himself, was about as close as he was going to get to his first dream of living the galaxy entire, after all. it wasn’t the worst thing. it was what he wanted.

and if it soon started feeling like banishment, then it was nothing less than he deserved.

(bodhi’s doctor is fresh out of training and it’s probably the only reason she spends as much time with him as she does; he gets the sense that he’s desperately lucky to have survived for this long, and he can understand her anxiety about having her most difficult project fall apart the moment she dares to look away. she talks to him when he’s aware enough for it—tells him about the bacta that’s covering a good portion of his body, how millions of little creatures are becoming a part of him by appropriating his genetic material and regenerating the parts of him that’d burned away. she stumbles through her explanations of his scans—she’s twi’lek, and never quite comfortable with humanoid anatomy—but he understands enough to know that he will never be what he was.

it’s a familiar thing, that knowledge.)

saw gerrera’s monster appeared crude, but what it did in bodhi’s brain couldn’t be replicated by the most skilled surgeons. it plucked at his neural circuits like an instrument, testing the ones that were laid out over decades of use and repetition and breaking the newer, fragile connections. memories come in different kinds, and not a single one of them exists discretely: humanoids use everything from emotion to the colour of the sky to recall something as simple as their own name.

for bodhi, bor gullet burned off most of his ways to access the things he knows—he can remember how a flower smelt or looked or felt in his hands but he can never quite remember its name; he can recall with frightening clarity the way a classmate at the academy made his heart flutter but never quite remember his face or the sound of his voice. he can now listen to a lecture for hours and yet not recall a single specific: he can no longer hold onto new facts than he can to thin air.

most days he’s learned to live with it; he does for the rebellion now what he did for the empire and tries not to think too hard about what that means. other times he tries—and fails—to swallow the screams echoing through all the empty spaces in his head; other times the word galen pops up in his thoughts without warning and he stumbles where he stands, his chest hollowed out by grief and guilt and he can’t remember why or how because that memory was too new, that memory was what that monster wanted—

(—except he hadn’t been home in so long and he was sorry, he was so sorry—)

he usually ends up in chirrut and baze’s quarters then—whether of his own volition or not he can never quite remember—and it’s both comforting and distressing because they’re home and they’re not, really. the guardians were legends themselves, in a way far more jarring than the jedi who lived in the time-machine in the sky, and bodhi had been terrified simply because he’d been told to be terrified, and because he’d then been told to be distrustful. it’s hard to let go of all of that, but sometimes baze would have a hand on his chest to slow down his panicked breathing and chirrut would hum something that feels familiar while all the words would sound foreign, and bodhi would—

bodhi would—

(between the time he set off with galen’s message and he steps out of the medbay on yavin 4, four planets have died. everyone’s celebrating the death of the last one, even as he stares at the viewing screens, numb and a little nauseous. we couldn’t have done it without you, somebody tells him—they look familiar—and he wants to scream but he huddles in cassian’s borrowed jacket and thinks of his cousin with the stars in her hair laughing like the future didn’t matter and lets himself cry. just a little.)

#star wars #rogue one #my fic #bodhi rook #writing this was like pulling teeth

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wmjismail · 5 years

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Below is Daim's speech in full in UTM Skudai on 19 March 2019:

To understand our current political climate, it is important to look back at our history. Kusut di hujung, balik ke pangkal (Messy at the end, return to the root of the problem).

The history of the Malays starts from long before the formation of Tanah Melayu. We are descendants of great empires, from Langkasuka, to Srivijaya, to Majapahit, to Melaka. Melaka, of course, is our most popular tale, that of a world-famous port whose global success led to its eventual colonisation.

And when Melaka fell to the Portuguese, those descendants of Sultan Melaka who survived founded a new empire here in Johor. They took control of the southern Malay Peninsula, spreading across Riau, Anambas, Natuna, Tambelan, Borneo, and Sumatra. Their success was attributed to the wisdom of their rulers, and their openness to international trade.

In more recent history, the formation of the Malayan Union and the subsequent opposition led by Umno were significant events that triggered real change in the political organisation of the Malays. Onn Jaafar, himself from Bukit Gambir and an MB of Johor, founded Umno in 1946, signalling the height of Malay political supremacy. We were united and we were strong.

But our unity did not last. We didn’t know how to deal with success; the Malays started to split. When we are successful, we are drunk with success. When we fail, we look for scapegoats and go amok.

Our battle with the Malayan Union was, in a way, the first true independence that we achieved - when the British backed down. We became masters of our own land.

But the political landscape changed, and many non-Malays began to consider Malaya home and demanded a say in their new homeland.

In 1951, Onn made the first attempt to unify the races in a single party when he tried to open the membership of Umno to non-Malays. However, Umno members at the time rejected it, and he left the party.

Nevertheless, the 1952 elections marked the first real political collaboration between Malays and non-Malays when Umno and MCA joined forces for political victory. They were later joined by MIC to form the Alliance, signalling political unity amongst all Malayans, achieving a sweeping victory in the 1955 elections.

Then came the negotiations for Merdeka, where all Malaysians worked hand-in-hand to shrug off the yoke of colonialism. We learned that we were stronger together – when all Malaysians were united, we could overcome challenges.

All this happened against a backdrop of consistent armed warfare against terrorists during the Emergency, when all races fought shoulder to shoulder to gain victory. We are the only country in the world to defeat terrorists.

Then came the formation of Malaysia and Konfrontasi and throughout Malays were working with non-Malays to achieve national goals.

So, Malaysia has had a strong and rich history of inter-racial harmony and multi-culturalism since its very inception. But we must admit that it is still very complex with jobs and economic sectors identified with race, income inequality between the races and different educational systems existing.

It cannot be denied that Malaysia will prosper when Malays prosper. You cannot have 50 percent of your population in low income, there will be economic instability affecting everyone, regardless of race or economic status.

For Malaysia to succeed, the Malays must succeed. But this can only be achieved within the national context, working together with non-Malays for the benefit of Malaysia.

Why is it that Malays were able to work so closely with non-Malays for so many years leading up to Merdeka and beyond? Even in the face of outside aggression, there were hardly questions of who deserved Malaysia more – the Malays or non-Malays. Indeed, it was only when politicians decided to use race and religion as tools to gain power that we fell by the wayside.

This talk is entitled 'Naratif Malaysia: Melayu dalam Persoalan National'. My question to you is: should we not just be talking about a National Narrative? Need we break down a national narrative along racial and religious lines?

But if your intention is to find answers to inequality, and to answer why the Malays are behind economically, then I really hope that this seminar will provide the answer.

When we talk about the Malays, we must talk about Islam. The Malays and Islam are indeed deeply entwined. They cannot be discussed separately. But what this has led to is the ignoring of our cultural and regional heritage, which has been abandoned in favour of foreign cultures (Arabisation especially) which feed into the insecurity of the Malays. It seems that everyone who does not speak like us and everything that we do not agree with, is a threat to Malays and Islam.

We must ask ourselves – is this true? Why is this so? Since when have the Malays and Muslims become so insecure about our place in this country?

When the Malays were far less economically advanced and far less educated, we defeated the British by rejecting the Malayan Union. We were brave.

We knew to organise collectively and strategically. We used our brains to defeat a colonial power. We managed to gain independence without bloodshed. We had no problems working with non-Malays and even learning from other races.

As the Malays progressed, it seems so did our sense of insecurity. Why is this so? Could it be that when there were no crutches, we had dignity, and the Malays felt more secure of our place within the country?

We are not lacking in Malay heroes. Johor alone has a rich history of formidable warriors, renowned artists, poets, athletes, scientists, doctors, academicians, and businessmen.

There was Muhamad Salleh bin Perang, who was the Bentara Luar. He was the first to draw up an accurate map of Johor, without the modern technology that present-day surveyors have available. He was the Head of Land Management and State Survey, and he used his map to plan the development of Johor. He was a Malay, but he was fluent in Chinese and was knowledgeable about Chinese culture, which allowed him to work closely with them in developing the economy.

In the realm of politics alone, the list of honours is never ending. Tun Hussein Onn, our “Bapa Perpaduan”, was from Johor. And so was his own “Bapa”, the founder of Umno, Onn Jaafar. His father before him, Jaafar Muhammad, was the first and longest serving MB of Johor. Deputy Prime Ministers Tun Dr Ismail and Musa Hitam were sons of Johor. Tun Ismail’s family was illustrious on its own, including his father-in-law Seth Said, Deputy MB of Johor, who was part of the delegation for Merdeka, and signed the Merdeka agreement against the Sultan’s orders. Without him, we would not have had Merdeka.

Johor produced the President of the Senate, Rahman Yasin. He was Tun Dr Ismail’s father. Tun Dr Ismail’s brother-in-law Ghazali Seth, was Chief of Defence, and he married Sri Norziah - sister of Hussein Onn, daughter of Onn Jaafar. Tun Dr Ismail went to school in Sekolah Melayu Bukit Zaharah in JB with two other famous figures – his brother, Sulaiman Abdul Rahman, and Ahmad Perang, who became the first Malay chairman of KTM.

Mohamed Noah Omar, the first Speaker of Dewan Rakyat, was also from Johor. His family too was very special – his two daughters married the men who would go on to be our prime ministers. Rahah, the wife of Tun Razak, and Suhaila, the wife of Hussein Onn. Tun Razak studied at Raffles College, with another son of Johor, Taib Andak, after whom Felda Taib Andak in Kulai is named. His brother Rahman Andak, was one of the early campaigners for Johor’s independence, and was State Secretary of Johor in 1984.

Governors of Bank Negara, Aziz Taha, Jaffar Hussein and Zeti Aziz. Professor Ungku Aziz, Zeti’s father, is a renowned economist. Zeti’s grandfather, Syed Mohammed Alsagoff, used to own Pulau Kukup, and had a concession to print his own money. Today, we use money signed by his granddaughter.

Why should we feel insecure with a legacy as illustrious as this?

Again, could it be that after being given all sorts of crutches, the effect has been to make the Malays weak and insecure, and most noticeably, lacking in resilience? What has led to this lack of confidence? It seems that when the Malays were facing real challenges, such as fighting for independence, our resilience was so much stronger.

As ease and comfort and quality of life improved, confidence and resilience abated. These observations call for sincere self-reflection – instead of picking fights with perceived enemies, we should look inwards and try to better ourselves instead of blaming all of our ills on others. We seem to be scared of our own shadows.

Today, there is one Malay graduate for every 20 Malays. Despite being more educated and having a large educated segment, we are still unable to convince ourselves that Malays have nothing to fear in this country. Are Malays thinking strategically, critically and logically? It looks increasingly obvious every day that the Malays are thinking with their emotions instead of with their intellect. We must ask ourselves – what is happening to us?

We have allowed our emotions to run wild and influence the way we see others. We watch ghost movies at the box offices. When Mastika stopped writing ghost stories, circulation ended and now there is no more Mastika. Now instead of reading about ghosts in Mastika, we are seeing ghosts around every corner.

Instead of depending on logic and facts, we prefer to buy into the racist rhetoric of politicians with dubious reputations.

Since I am talking to academicians, I would like to pose this question to you: what role should you be playing in injecting some logic and fact into the Malaysia narrative? Do you intend to go along with the emotional flow or do you see it as your academic duty to question the irrational narratives that are being shoved down the Malays’ throats?

Do you as “the educated” speak honestly and bravely about what is happening or do you simply pretend that this growing racism is justified?

All of you here are highly educated, but how many of you have bought into the nonsensical political rhetoric that the Malays are being threatened by the non- Malays in this country? That Islam is under threat simply because of one or two people being insensitive enough to post something on the Prophet?

The religion cannot be insulted. Only people can be. If our faith is strong, we do not get insulted. In fact, we laugh at such ignorance. And our behaviour should reflect the best of our religion so that we and our religion earn the respect of others.

Our country is multi-cultural and multi-religious. We have managed to live here in peace. We are sensitive to our neighbours and respect one another. This is our way.

It is wrong to insult anybody, more so the Prophet. To make fun of religion is stupid. But we have laws, and we should respect due process. Many have forgotten our Rukun Negara. The most important document is the Constitution.

No Malaysian should make insensitive comments towards other religions and races. But what has happened with the proclamation of Jihad against non- Muslims recently?

If Muslims want to perform Jihad, it should be Jihad to better ourselves not only spiritually, but economically, academically and to contribute to the continued growth of our own country.

We talk about the Malay narrative as if we are on the verge of being driven out of our own country. There is so much anger and indignation when non- Malays were appointed to high posts in the government, as if this is something new.

Why is there not the same anger when we are confronted with facts of corruption and kleptocracy of the highest order among our Malay leaders? We don’t feel offended when it was prime news all over the world. Instead, we respond with “Malu apa?”. Kalau “tak malu”, apa jadi kepada iman kita (If we are not ashamed, what has happened to our faith)?

The Malays can continue down this emotional and irrational path at our own peril or we can stop, think, reflect and call for change. Nobody is forcing us to be emotional and irrational. We have chosen to be that way ourselves because we have allowed ourselves to be bought over by politicians whose only goal is to gain or regain power, no matter what the cost – and the cost is almost always ours to bear.

So, the choice is up to us – nak duduk macam katak di bawah tempurung (want to be like a frog beneath a coconut-shell)? Do we change and become a force to be reckoned within the context of the national agenda, Malaysia Baru, or do we go down the path we are currently treading and proclaim a narrative that is narrow, focused only on ourselves? Or will we pursue a truly National or Malaysia Narrative, in which we participate and play a very active role?

The National Agenda is not a Malay agenda or a non-Malay agenda. It is a Malaysian Agenda that takes into consideration all Malaysians. That fights poverty and inequality without discrimination, respecting the Constitution.

I am glad to note that this seminar is directed at the four sectors of politics, economy, budaya and agama. Let us get all of these right. To get all of these right, our education system must change. Don't treat education as a political football. The education system must be right.

Our future, Malaysia’s future, will depend on giving our children the right type of education that will allow them to be confident to face the best in the world. Get education right, then politics and economy will be right. Brains minus emotions will determine our future and the future of Malaysia.

Expose our children to the world, then they will want to excel, and they will protect the best of our budaya.

There is nothing wrong with Islam. It is not under threat. It is the fastest growing religion in the world.

I would like to advise you not to follow politicians blindly. As I said earlier, for Malaysia to succeed, the Malays must succeed. I keep repeating, Iqra' (Aik Krok) – read to acquire knowledge and to think critically. Choose the right path that will lead to success.

Time is very important and we are excellent at wasting time. We will lose to time. Let us tell ourselves from now on we shall not repeat past mistakes. We will give the best education to our children so that they can compete and succeed. Let us leave all failure of confidence behind, and start our future now.

Leave this hall confident and ok with ourselves. Tell our children that we will compete and we will succeed.

#malaysia

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newstfionline · 6 years

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Jared Kushner’s Connection to Israeli Business Goes Without Scrutiny

By Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 12, 2017

There was a time when we all went along with the myth that American peacemaking in the Middle East was even-handed, neutral, uninfluenced by the religion or political background or business activities of the peacemakers. Even when, during the Clinton administration, the four principal US “peacemakers” were all Jewish Americans--their lead negotiator, Dennis Ross, a former prominent staff member of the most powerful Israeli lobby group, Aipac (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee)--the Western press scarcely mentioned this. Only in Israel was it news, where the Maariv newspaper called them “the mission of four Jews”.

The Israeli writer and activist, Meron Benvenisti, wrote in Ha’aretz newspaper that while the ethnic origin of the four US diplomats may be irrelevant, “it is hard to ignore the fact that manipulation of the peace process was entrusted by the US in the first place to American Jews, and that at least one member of the State Department team was selected for the task because he represented the view of the American Jewish establishment. The tremendous influence of the Jewish establishment on the Clinton administration found its clearest manifestation in redefining the ‘occupied territories’ as ‘territories in dispute’.

But lest they be accused of antisemitism, said Benvenisti, the Palestinians “cannot, God forbid, talk about Clinton’s ‘Jewish connection’...” Still slandered as “antisemitic” for merely condemning Israel’s brutality and occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the same fear still eats away at the courage of the Palestinian Authority. When Trump’s Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner became the President’s peace “envoy”, the Palestinians, well aware that he supported the continued--and internationally illegal--colonisation of Arab land, even politely welcomed his sudden exaltation as peacemaker. It was the Israeli media that first pointed out how little he knew--and how few people he knew--in the real Middle East.

But Dennis Ross, the ex-Aipac man whose bias towards Israel was criticised by Jewish colleagues as well as Arabs, hugely supported Kushner when he was appointed Trump’s special envoy. As for Trump, here is the official record of his thoughts on the prowess of Jared Kushner: “Ya know what, Jared is such a good kid, and he’ll make a deal with Israel [sic] that no one else can. He’s a natural, he’s a great deal, he’s a natural--ya know what I was talking about, natural--he’s a natural dealmaker. Everyone likes him.”

As a real estate investor, Kushner may indeed be a “natural dealmaker”. But no one expected to discover--as they did in the New York Times a few days ago--that shortly before Kushner accompanied Trump on his first diplomatic trip to Israel in May, his family real estate company received about $30m (£22m) in investments from Menora Mivtachim, one of Israel’s largest insurers and financial institutions. The agreement was--surprise, surprise--not publicised. There’s no evidence that Kushner was directly involved in the deal and it doesn’t seem to have violated federal ethics laws, according to the New York Times.

But as the paper said, quite apart from Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Kushner arrangement “could undermine the ability of the United States to be seen as an independent broker in the region”. Tut tut. How could this be? Doesn’t the New York Times accept that Kushner “takes the ethics rules very seriously” (this from a White House press secretary) and that while Kushner Companies cannot be stopped from doing business with a foreign company just because Kushner works for the US administration; it “does no business with foreign sovereigns or governments”.

Kushner remains a beneficiary of trusts that have stakes in Kushner Companies, even though he resigned as chief executive in January of last year. My favourite quotation came from one of Kushner’s lawyers, Abbe D Lowell, who said that “connecting any of his well-publicised trips to the Middle East to anything to do with Kushner Companies or its businesses is nonsensical and is a stretch to write a story where none actually exists”.

So that’s OK, then. And if a future member of a principal US Middle East peace-negotiating team happened--just by chance, mind you--to be a Muslim (his ethnic origins as irrelevant as we must regard Kushner’s) and, while working for the US President, was a beneficiary of trusts in a company that was doing business with, let us say, companies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt or--even, heaven spare us--in Ramallah in the Palestinian West Bank, that would be above board, hunky-dory and acceptable practice for a chap whose only desire in life was to bring peace to Israelis and Palestinians. And if those Arab companies were investing in that particular peace-negotiator’s real estate company, no one would turn a hair or suggest that anything was just a bit remiss or--let us not use the word “unethical” for a moment--not really quite the appropriate thing to do.

After all, elected American officials have always been a bit sceptical about Arab financial “help” to the US, even when the aid has come free of charge and with no interest attached. Take Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal--one of the world’s richest men, currently residing on a mattress in the Riyadh Ritz Hotel as an unwilling guest of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman--who in 2001 offered a $10m donation to the Twin Towers Fund, for the families and victims of the 9/11 attack. He also mentioned the Palestinian cause because, he said, “reporters have since the attack repeatedly asked how to eradicate terrorism”. America had to understand, he said, that “if it wants to extract the roots of this ridiculous and terrible act, this issue has to be solved”.

Whoops! This self-evident truth was far too much for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York, who promptly told Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to keep his cheque. You can’t offer cash and talk politics at the same time. But it did show how sensitive can be the connection between money--even donations from an Arab--and politics in the Middle East-US axis. No such problems, however, seem to attend Jared Kushner--who obviously approved of his father-in-law’s grotesque decision to accept Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, thus cutting the Palestinians out of the “natural deal” which Trump claimed he could secure. And most surely, Kushner’s real estate company’s relationship with Israeli financial institutions have nothing to do with that.

#Jared Kushner #Israel #Israeli real estate company #Mideast peace talks

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lucybarnesmdx-blog · 7 years

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‘The Final Manner’ by Achille Mbembe

How does Mbebe differentiate between “person” and “slave”? (Mbebe, 2001: p. 235)

In accordance to Mbebe the ‘Person’ is the individual who owns and believes that the ‘Slave’ is their property.

(Dictionary definition of ‘Slave’ - a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them)

Mbebe refers to ‘Slave’ as an individual, man or woman, whose body can be degraded, disfigured, and whose work and resources can be wasted in a foolish manner - with exemption from punishment.

How does Mbebe relate the ‘colonised individual’ to the animal? Do you think this an effective analogy?

According to Mbebe there is barely a difference between ‘the native principle’ and the ‘animal principle.’ The native is unknown to the colonisers thus emphasising the notion, as stated by Mbebe, that ‘natives and animals cannot stand on their two feet’ which is the reason as to why they are ‘put firmly in the grasp of another,’ (the coloniser). The animal can be domesticated, similar in a way that the native can be controlled. To the coloniser, the colonised individual has animal needs; to drink, eat and sleep.

“Colonisation as an enterprise of domestication includes at least three factors: the appropriation of the animal (the native) by the human (the colonist); the familiarization of man (the colonist) and the animal (the native); the utilization of the animal (the native) by the human (the colonist). One may think such a process as arbitrary as it was one-dimensional, but that would be to forget that neither the colonist nor the colonized people emerge from the circle unharmed. To this extent, the act of colonizing was as much an act of conviviality as an act of venality” (Mbebe, 2001: p.237). What do you understand by this? How could it be used to explain the ways in which ideas of culture are appropriated by global fashion systems?

The appropriation of the animal by the human, the familiarisation of the man and the animal, and the utilisation of the animal by the human are three factors in which colonisation acts as an enterprise of domestication. Neither the animal or the human come out of the one dimensional cycle unharmed. The act of colonising is an act of falsified friendliness which is corruptly money motivated, through bribery.

“The colonised individual – the object and the subject of venality – introduced himself into the colonial relationship by a specific art, that of doubling and the simulacrum…” (Mbebe, 2001: p.237) Referring back to last week’s lecture on postmodernity and thinking of the idea of the ‘simulacrum’ specifically – what do you understand by Mbebe’s argument here?

The colonised individual is referred to as the ‘object’ and ‘subject’ of venality; the offering of himself or herself to the coloniser. They are degraded in a way that the only form of a relationship between the ‘person’ and the ‘slave’ is through money motivation, also known as ‘bribery.’ One conforms through colonisation purely because of the promise of money.

Mbebe asks “Can we really talk of moving beyond Colonialism?” (Mbebe, 2001: p.237). What do you think?

I believe that to move beyond Colonialism we must recognise the previous misconducts and learn from them. Colonialism relates to a great deal of power and wealth, and in my opinion associates itself with greed. The more land and colonies one obtains, equates to a substantial amount of power. As questioned by Mbebe ‘have we really entered another period, or do we find the same theatre’ with ‘different actors and spectators?’

What does Mbebe mean by “The Process of Becoming Savage?” (Mbebe, 2001: p. 238)

Mbebe states that the relationship established in and after the colony emphasise power and the process of becoming savage.

Savage - fierce, violent and uncontrolled

(Needs elaboration)

Mbebe writes that the age of unhappiness was also a “noisy age of disguise..” (Mbebe, 2001: p.238). What do you understand by this, especially in terms of postmodernity and postcolonialism?

I interpret this as in postmodern society, our unhappiness is a period of time in which we attempt to disguise. The ‘age’ of ‘exhaustion’, ‘greediness’ and ‘desire’; seemingly contradictory.

(Needs Elaboration)

How do you understand Mbebe’s phrase, “The spectacle of a world marked by unbridled license”? (Mbebe, 2001: p.239)

The hope of an uncontrolled world / environment?

(Needs Elaboration)

“In fact, both in the light of the advancing world and in everyday interactions with life, Africa appears as simultaneously a diabolical discover, an inanimate image, and a living sign” (Mbebe, 2001: p. 240). What do you understand by this idea and do you agree? (Think of postmodernity and semiotics particularly). How do depictions of Africa in fashion contribute to your understanding of Mbebe’s idea?

Do not know how to answer / word. (Come back to later on)

Mbebe writes “Thus we must speak of Africa only as a chimera on which we all work blindly, a nightmare we produce and from which we make a living – and which we sometimes enjoy, but which somewhere deeply repels us, to the point that we may evince toward it the kind of disgust we feel on seeing a cadaver…” (Mbebe, 2001: p.241) – What do you understand by this?

Through this statement, I understand that Mbebe blames us, as humans for the nightmare and suffering caused in Africa. This continent is a thing that is strongly hoped for, however any solution to repair the damage is nothing but impossible to achieve. The problem is too immense to rectify, a notion that humanity should feel disgusted by. This reminds me of the quote;

“I see humans but no humanity” - Jason Donohue

How does Mbebe suggest we understand the term, “Africa” (Mbebe, 2001: p. 242)? Do you agree? How does this relate to the ways in which you believe “Africa” is communicated in contemporary Fashion?

The way Mbebe suggests we understand the term ‘Africa’ is through it’s series of ‘colours, costumes, appearances, sounds and rhythms, parables’ and so forth. Also referred to as an illusion, it’s ‘phantasms’ and our ‘perceptions’, a false interpretation. As individuals, we see ‘Africa’ how we want to see it, ignoring the extensive complications and the ‘behind the scenes’.

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