PORTUPHY CONFIRMS: He Wants To Be National Chairman Of NDC

Comrade Kofi Portuphy

Comrade Kofi Portuphy, National Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has finally broken his silence on his interest in the race for the leadership of the party.

In a sly but decisive statement Portuphy has made it clear that he wants to replace his current boss, Dr. Kwabena Adjei as National Chairman of the party.

He told “Radio Gold” that he will “give a thought” to contesting for the national chairmanship of the NDC when the race is opened.

When he was first asked to confirm reports that he wants to contest for the position, he began dancing around.

He said his main interest is to ensure that the 2012 election petition against President Mahama and the Electoral Commission is dismissed.

Comrade Portuphy said he as the party point person for election is working hard with others to ensure the victory of the party and the President at the Supreme Court.

When pushed further, he said he would give a thought to contesting for the position when the contest is open.

Incumbent Dr. Kwabena Adjei has so far not made any public comments on the race for the leadership of the party.

He has said that his main focus is on consolidating the electoral gains of the party.

It is speculated that Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, former Minister of Local Government will also throw his hat into the race.

He like Dr. Kwabena Adjei has flatly refused to confirm his interest in the contest.

Mr. Ofosu Ampofo was a very strong supporter of late President John Evans Atta Mills and there were credible rumours that Dr. Kwabena Adjei had some difficulties with the late President.

It is still not clear which of the three potential contestants may secure the blessing of President John Mahama even though the word on the street is that he may be more comfortable with a Portuphy candidature.

Editorial

NEW WAR LOOMS

A new war which will engulf the whole of the Middle East and Persian Gulf is looming and it is being instigated by the United States of America and the Zionist State of Israel.

Both Israel and the US strangely believe that by instigating this needless war, they would manage to destroy the axis of resistance against Zionism.

The plan is to set Arabs against Arabs and to get some muslims to fight other muslims whiles the Zionist entity enhances its strength.

Part of the strategy which is doomed to fail is unfolding in Syria where terrorist groups from all over the world are being encouraged to join the rebellion against the Assad Government.

Unfortunately, the terrorist groups have proved incapable of overthrowing Assad and Israel has had to participate in the war directly.

From our perspective the adventure by the United States of America and Israel would backfire in a very big way.

This time round Israel’s machinations would be defeated and US interest in the Middle East  and the Persian Gulf would suffer beyond repair.

The Insight can see the war coming but it will not be won by Israel and its master.

Genetic Engineering: Corporate Hijacking of Food and Agriculture

By Colin Todhunter

“I recognized my two selves: a crusading idealist and a cold, granitic believer in the law of the jungle” – Edgar Monsanto Queeny, Monsanto chairman, 1943-63, “The Spirit of Enterprise”, 1934.

When rich companies with politically-connected lobbyists and seats on government-appointed bodies bend policies for their own ends, we are in serious trouble. It is then that our democratic institutions become hijacked and our choices, freedoms and rights are destroyed. Corporate interests have too often used their dubious ‘science’, lobbyists, political connections and presence within the heart of governments, in conjunction with their public relations machines, to subvert democratic machinery for their own benefit. Once their power has been established, anyone who questions them or who stands in their way can expect a very bumpy ride.

The power and influence of the GMO sector

The revolving door between the private sector and government bodies has been well established. Over the past few years in Britain, the media has occasionally shed light on the cosy and highly questionable links between the armaments industry and top people in the Ministry of Defence. In the US, many senior figures from the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) industry, especially Monsanto, have moved with ease to take up positions with the Food and Drug Administration. Author and researcher William F Engdahl writes about a similar influence in Europe, noting the links between the GMO sector within the European Food Safety Authority. He states that over half of the scientists involved in the GMO panel which positively reviewed the Monsanto’s study for GMO maize in 2009, leading to its EU-wide authorisation, had links with the biotech industry.

“Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the F.D.A.’s job” – Phil Angell, Monsanto’s director of corporate communications. “Playing God in the Garden” New York Times Magazine,October 25, 1998.

When corporate interests are able to gain access to such positions of power, little wonder they have some heavy-duty tools at their disposal to (attempt to) fend off criticism by all means necessary.

Take the GMO sector, for instance. A well-worn tactic, certainly not exclusive to that sector, has been to slur and attack figures that have challenged the ‘science’ and claims of the industry. With threats of lawsuits and UK government pressure, some years ago top research scientist Dr Arpad Pusztai was effectively silenced over his research concerning the dangers of GM food. A campaign was set in motion to destroy his reputation. Similarly, a WikiLeaks cable highlighted how GMOs were being forced into European nations by the US ambassador to France who plotted with other US officials to create a ‘retaliatory target list’ of anyone who tried to regulate GMOs. Now that clearly indicates the power of the industry!

Champions of the poor: GM frontier technology

What the GMO sector fails to grasp is that the onus is on them to prove that their products are safe. And they have patently failed to do this.

No independent testing was done before Bush senior allowed GMOs onto the US market. The onus should not be on what Professor Shantu Shantharam, a leading figure in the GMO sector, calls the “anti-GM brigade” to prove it is safe (or unsafe). (Deccan Herald website).

Now that scientists such as Professor Seralini at the University of Caen in France are in a sense playing catch-up by testing previously independently untested GMOs, he is accused of “lies” and “deceit.” In fact, Professor Shantharam claims that:

“You people (the ‘anti-GM brigade’) have no shame. You are all disgusting enemies of the poor farmers around the world by trying to block a safe product of a frontier technology…”

Little mention there of the 250,000 poor farmers who took their own lives in the Indian cotton belt because they became indebted due to this “frontier technology” not delivering the results that the GMO industry has said it would. It is easy to thus conclude that if there is a ‘disgusting enemy’ it is the profiteering corporate-controlled terminator seed technology of the GMO industry that has resulted in mass suicides and the destruction of traditional farmer-controlled agricultural practices developed over thousands of years.

But this is symptomatic of the industry: it says a product is safe, therefore it is. We are expected to take its claims at face value, not least because the industry has gained an air of pseudo respectability: the US FDA sanctions such products.  I use the word ‘pseudo’ because the revolving door between top figures at Monsanto and positions at the FDA makes it difficult to see where the line between the two is actually drawn. People are rightly suspicious of the links between the FDA and GMO industry in the USand the links between it and the regulatory body within the EU.

The impact of the corporate hijacking of food and agriculture

The corporations currently forwarding their GM agenda represent the so-called “Green Revolution’s” second coming. Agriculture has changed more over the last two generations than it did in the previous 12,000 years. Environmentalist Vandana Shiva notes that, after 1945, chemical manufacturers who had been involved in the weapons industry turned their attention to applying their chemical know-how to farming. As a result ‘dwarf seeds’ were purposively created to specifically respond to their chemicals. Over the coming years, agriculture became transformed into a chemical-dependent industry that has destroyed biodiversity. What we are left with is a monoculture, which according to Shiva reflects a monoculture of thinking. In effect, modern agriculture is part of the paradigm of control based on mass standardization and a dependency on corporate products: corporate monoculture.

The implications have been vast. Chemical-industrial agriculture has proved extremely lucrative for the oil and chemicals industry and has served to maintain and promote Western hegemony, not least via ‘structural adjustment’ and the consequent uprooting of traditional farming practices in favour of export-oriented policies, dam building to cater for what became a highly water intensive industry, loans, indebtedness, etc.

Apart from tying poorer countries into an unequal system of global trade and reinforcing global inequalities, the corporate hijacking of food and agriculture has had many other implications, not least where health is concerned.

Dr Meryl Hammond, founder of the Campaign for Alternatives to Pesticides, told a Canadian parliamentary committee in 2009 that a raft of studies published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals point to strong associations between chemical pesticides and serious health consequences, including endocrine disruption and fertility problems, birth defects, brain tumours and brain cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, childhood leukemia, cancer clusters in communities, gastric or stomach cancer, learning disabilities, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and canine malignant lymphoma.

Then there is Shiv Chopra, a top food advisor to the Canadian government.  He exposed how all kinds of food products that were known to be dangerous were passed by the regulatory authority and put on the market there due to the power of the food industry.

Given the amount of hormones, antibiotics, food additives, preservatives and colourings, artificial sweeteners, aluminium, sulphur, flavour enhancers and heavy metals being put into what we eat, is it any wonder that we are becoming sick? Severe anemia, permanent brain damage, Alzheimer’s, dementia, neurological disorders, reproductive problems, diminished intelligence, impaired immune system, behavioural disorders, cancers, hyperactivity and learning disability are just some of the diseases linked to our food.

Of course, just like cigarettes and the tobacco industry before, trying to ‘prove’ the glaringly obvious link will take decades as deceit is passed off as ‘science’ or becomes institutionalized due to the hijacking of government bodies by the corporations involved in food production.

In ‘GMOs Ticking Time Bomb’, Rima E Laibow, Medical Director of Natural Solutions Foundation, argues that every single independent study conducted on the impact of GMOs shows they damage organs and cause infertility, immune system failure, holes in the GI tract and multiple system failure when eaten. She argues that they cause a variety of changes, some of which we can’t even guess at as new proteins are coded due to altered DNA – some which we’ve never seen before. Laiblow concludes we are playing with genetic fire. Yet, they are on the commercial market in the US and elsewhere.

We are standing in the way of progress!

Science has become a political football. Anyone who questions the safety of GMOs is “clueless” and indulges in “scare mongering” and “falsehoods.”In fact, Shatharam says about such people that all they know “is to stop progress and US agriculture is doing fine and thanks to the absence of scientists like Seralini and Pushpa Bhargava. These two so called scientific jokers will not allowed set foot in the real world of science in North America. They have a hey day in countries like India because of ignoramuses.”

He talks of progress. What he means is the progress of his industry and the raping and contamination of the natural environment for profit.

But can we expect much better from an industry that has a record of smearing and attempting to ruin people who criticise it? Are those of us who question the political links of the GMO industry and the nature of its products ready to take lessons on ethics and high-minded notions of ‘human progress’ from anyone involved with it?

This is an industry that has been responsible for the best part of 250,000 farmer deaths in India, an industry that has contaminated crops and bullied farmers with lawsuits in North America, an industry whose companies have been charged with and most often found guilty of contaminating the environment and seriously damaging health with PCBs and dioxins, an industry complicit in concealing the deadly impact of GM corn on animals, an industry where bribery seems to be second nature (eg Monsanto in Indonesia), an industry associated with human rights violations in Brazil and an industry that will not label its foods in the US. And that is a much shortened list.

“The hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded [with GMOs] that there’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender” – Don Westfall, biotech industry consultant and vice-president of Promar International, in the Toronto Star,January 9 2001.

As Vandana Shiva has noted, the 2005 US-India nuclear deal (allowing India to develop its nuclear sector despite it not being a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and pushed through with a cash for votes tactic in the Indian parliament!) was linked to the Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture, which was aimed at widening access to India’s agricultural and retail sectors. This initiative was drawn up with the full and direct participation of representatives from various companies, including Monsanto, Cargill and Walmart.

When the most powerful country comes knocking at your door seeking to gain access to your market, there’s good chance that once its corporate-backed jackboot is in, you won’t be able to get it out. In India, the pressure is building to release GM food onto the market.

Writer Marie-Monique Robin has famously stated that whoever controls the food business controls the world. While the GMO sector hides behind notions of democracy, human progress and champions of the poor, scratch beneath the surface and the ugly face of corporate self-interest lurks for all to see.

 ”What you are seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it’s really a consolidation of the entire food chain” – Robert Fraley, co-president of Monsanto’s agricultural sector 1996, in the Farm Journal. Quoted in:FlintJ. (1998) Agricultural industry giants moving towards genetic monopolism. Telepolis, Heise.

A Stiff Sentence for a Pickpocket & Con Man

Kelvin Ighodalo

 By Sheyi Oriade

Had the notion occurred to, and the possibility existed for, Kelvin Ighodalo to have sought the counsel of a Careers’ Adviser, prior to embarking upon his chosen career, for which he is now to spend an extended period behind bars; he might have been counselled to pursue a career path in Nigerian politics. A vocation, for which he seems eminently qualified on account of his proclivisty and proficiency for relieving others of what is rightfully theirs and utilising the same for personal benefit. A trait, he shares in common with many of our ruling political class. Had he had the foresight to have sought out and followed such counsel, he would today, be reposing in the comfort of opulent government lodgings, well beyond the reach of the law; rather than being confined, as he now is, within the bounds of the austere and forbidding surroundings of a Nigerian prison. In other words he would have been celebrated, rather than incarcerated! 

          

It is quite possible that up to this point some readers may be wondering who Kelvin Ighodalo is? Such a reaction is not unusual. For until recently, he was in national terms a nonentity. His identity was known it seems, within, but not beyond certain criminal circles encompassing pickpockets and confidence tricksters. His sudden claim to national notoriety is based on an audacious sequence of criminal acts he perpetrated against the governor of Osun State. In full public gaze, he picked the pocket of the governor and stole his mobile phone. He subsequently dialled certain numbers stored on it, and through false pretences, fleeced the recipients of the calls, out of significant sums of money.

As much as one does not commend or condone such action, and indeed one condemns it, there is, however, something very comical about the audacity of it all. How it is, that at a public inaugural ceremony to induct a governor, a pickpocket was able to breach security and rifle through the governor’s pocket? Incredible! It raises questions about the competence of those charged with protecting the governor. I shudder to imagine, what the consequences might have been, had Kelvin Ighodalo been anything other than a misguided pickpocket.  

Given his choice of high profile victims, it was always going to be a matter of time before he was apprehended and arraigned before a court of law to answer for his criminal actions. And once this happened and his guilt was established, it was a foregone conclusion that in retribution, he would receive a custodial sentence. Such that, it would be some time before he could once again regain the freedom to pursue his preferred practice of picking peoples’ pockets and personating other peoples’ personalities for pernicious and profitable purposes.

Ordinarily, Kelvin Ighodalo’s encounter with the criminal justice system ought not to raise eyebrows or comment. By conduct and character he is not a model citizen. His matter should have been an ‘open and shut case’. He did the crime and having been found guilty, it was now time for him to do the time. What could be more straightforward? Not this case as it turns out. Due to the extent of the sentence pronounced upon him - 45 years for six counts. One finds this, problematic, particularly, in the light of Lord Hewart’s maxim, to wit, that:

‘Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done.’

It seems in this case, that justice was not simply done, it was overdone and to such a degree, that it resembles, in some respects, an injustice. One would have thought it impossible to wrong a man guilty of wrongdoing. 

  

But in sentencing him to 45 years in prison for his crimes, notwithstanding, the concurrency of the sentences (he will serve no more than 10 years in prison), the Osun State High Court has unwittingly invited comparisons and comment about the experience and expectations of lowly placed, and highly placed, individuals in the Nigerian criminal justice system. How for instance, do those members of the ruling class, culpable of picking the nation’s pockets, fare in the criminal justice system, in comparison to the likes of Kelvin Ighodalo? 

   

In Kelvin Ighodalo’s case, it appears that rather than the punishment being delivered to fit the crime(s) it was delivered to fit the individual or, worse still, to satisfy his high profile victims. One recognises that any criminal justice system worth its name, must seek to strike a balance between these different and often competing aspects. Punishment for crime must highlight its seriousness and leave the criminal in no doubt about his wrongdoing, as well as reassure victims of crime, and society as a whole, that the criminal justice system can be depended upon to deal with crime in a fair, decisive, definitive, and timely manner regardless of the status of the criminal. I am not persuaded that all these boxes were ticked in this case.

     

Whenever decisions relating to the choice, nature, and extent of punishment for offenders are made they should, with due regard to the law, be informed or tempered by the concept of proportionality. Perhaps in Kelvin Ighodalo case, the trial court’s main motivation was to issue an unequivocal message to pickpockets, confidence tricksters and fraudulent extortionists that the law takes a dim view of their activities. Such an approach is not wrong. But it needs to be applied consistently across the board, to ensure that it affects in equal measure those who pick the pockets of governors and governors (ruling class) who pick the pockets of the governed.  

       

Against a background, in which highly placed members of the ruling class when found on the wrong side of the law have received in retribution, nothing more than a slap on the wrists, in stark contrast to Kelvin Ighodalo’s experience with the criminal justice system; it leaves a poor taste in the mouth. Regardless of the fact, that Kelvin Ighodalo is not an exemplar of model citizenship. There is no doubt that he deserves a stint in jail for his actions. That much is beyond contention. What is not, however, is the extent of the sentence given to him. 

      

Those in whom, the administration and dispensation of justice is reposed, must ensure that the people do not become disillusioned about the prospects of attaining justice through State institutions; otherwise it will lead to anarchy, as increasing numbers of people begin to subscribe to the notion that:     

‘There is no justice, just us.’ 

But perhaps, I protest too much, for did not, Anacharsis, the philosopher declare millennia ago, that:

“Laws are like spider webs, strong enough to hold the weak, but too weak to hold the strong”.

Africa: Development and the Double-Sided Mirror

By Tunde Jegede

There is a need for a cultural rebirth in Africa as part of the radical economic and social transformation of the continent. A new African consciousness that is free from the chains of 'colonial', 'post-colonial' and 'decolonial' must be located in African reference points 'Since time immemorial the apprentice has sat at the foot of the griot
listening to images of a forgotten past and bygone eras lost in the epoch
of human memory. For generations every son has sat at the foot of his
father retracing ancestral legacy and receiving the veil of the word'

How will we pass on legacy, cultural knowledge and wisdom to the next generation when our traditions and values are being lost and eroded all the time? How will we evolve into a global force, culturally, economically and politically when we are no longer able to conceive of the intangible in our own image?

For me, cultural rebirth through an African Renaissance is not just necessary but essential as one of the only strategies to enable this form of transformation, which is badly needed right across the continent. Africa is the continent of potential, but unrealized. It is in need of a renaissance which calls upon us to embrace a new consciousness connecting our past to our present and thereby our future. We cannot, and should not, deny our past but allow ourselves to release our own future.

NECESSARY DEBATES TO BE HAD
One of the most unfortunate stumbling blocks of emerging from beneath the cloud of a colonial past is the lack of original and independent reference points. Geographical independence does not always signify independence of the mind or thought. After 50 years of independence the axis of our reference points for thinking in all areas of life are still essentially European. The debate of what an African consciousness is in the 21st century is still one to be had and aired.

When we think of literature is our first thought Shakespeare or Soyinka? When we think of classical music is our first thought Beethoven or the Griot tradition? I am not suggesting any over the other but simply putting forward some questions for our own personal internal reflection. From the arts we can move to the more controversial arena of religion. How is it that the St. James version of the bible and its Christianity superseded African Coptic Christianity and the legacy of the desert fathers? Why has the modern Islam of Saudi Arabia superseded the African Islam that proceeded it and which gave birth to the mosques of Medieval Mali? If both these religions are already part of our heritage why do we constantly look to outside reference points for total guidance? From literature to music from Christianity to Islam it seems we continually look outside ourselves when perhaps we should be looking within.

WINDOWS OF PERCEPTION
I recently created a new theatre piece entitled, 'The Griot's Tale' which centred around the tale of a boatman carrying a young man across a river and relaying fables to him as they crossed. It came about as part of a residency at the celebrated Nigerian artist, Yinka Shonibare's studio. Yinka Shonibare has just set up a Guest Projects Africa programme at his studio in recognition of the need to have a space in London for the development of new experimental African work. We showcased two performances at the studio and had a great response from a highly mixed audience but one thing struck me from the subsequent feedback, that even the framing of our compliments are often not our own.

'Excellent. It subtly brings out classical concepts from African thinking, links them to some European ones and makes them timeless. The Griot and the Greek ferryman.'

This astute audience-member made many valuable observations for the piece and his first sentence hits on much of what we were striving for in the piece. However, for me the second statement begins to undo what has just been said. There is an assumption that the Boatman or Ferryman is a Greek/Western construction but it is not. In the piece itself we had projected Egyptian images of a boatman from antiquity as well as our own contemporary ones but none of these could destabilize the Western construct planted in our minds of the boatman being a European idea with its origins in ancient Greece. It illustrates and points to a wider human predicament that if something is repeated often enough over time it becomes fact in our mind's eye whether it is true or not.

I have found these windows of perception in all walks of life and especially in the arts where it is of profound importance. As a composer and classically trained musician I studied both Western and African Classical music. I learnt the cello and European classical music at a music conservatoire in UK and the Griot Tradition under the tutelage of Master of the Kora, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh. I never regarded one as higher than the other just simply different traditions reflecting different value systems and ideas. All of these valuable resources adding to the universal tapestry of music, art and culture. It is a natural process for culture to continue to realign itself constantly with the creative moment but only divisive learnt constrictive modes/structures of thinking would try to unnaturally control this process.

WINDOWS OF CHANGE
There are several ways to begin to change our window of perception through which we see the world. After this I believe all else is possible. The first is to elevate the position of the traditional artist within African societies and encourage them to update their practice in a way that is conducive to the principles from which the tradition was born out of in the first place. These traditions urgently need support and infrastructure but not necessarily to become institutionalised. At the moment there is very little infrastructure for their long-term sustenance leaving them susceptible to outside influences and consequently many of Africa's finest and most successful traditional musicians and artists inevitably end up working and living in the West.

This artistic and intellectual drain of experiential knowledge is having dire repercussions for the younger generation who are no longer steeped in or exposed to the work of these great cultural practitioners. A case in point is The Gambia where most of their finest musicians now live and work outside the country due to economic circumstances and lack of opportunities rather than choice, as there is currently no support infrastructure for the work they do. It is not a coincidence that, by necessity, all of the members of my African Classical Music Ensemble including the international Riti virtuoso, Juldeh Camara are currently all based outside of The Gambia.

One of the last beacons of light for traditional African Music was the Pan African Orchestra in Ghana, which was the first African Orchestra made up solely of traditional African instruments. Yet, despite several classic recordings and international tours they finally had to disband after ten years due to lack of infrastructural support. For young emerging artists working in traditional music today it is almost impossible to find a space, organisation or body willing to support their endeavor. They are therefore at the mercy of the local and international commercial music industry whose aims are often at odds with the development and maintenance of cultural legacy. This has created a very dangerous state of affairs for traditional music in West Africa and one that urgently needs to be addressed.

At the same time we see the rapid onslaught of globalization and popular culture
on society and how this process is affecting the very perception and inherent value system of a generation who are clearly disassociating themselves from their cultural heritage. Ironically, it is this very same sector of society who represent a huge untapped source and potential pool of talent, which is currently not being realized. One of the main hurdles and stumbling blocks to their development is a severe lack of infrastructure and expertise in certain key areas.

Today one of the only bright lights in traditional music I can point to is in Mali where there is still a very high regard for traditional music within society. The legendary Kora player, Toumani Diabaté has used his status as an international musician to create a space where traditional musicians are supported and can come together under the banner of his symmetric orchestra. There is also a connection between the generations with several of his sons emerging with the new generation of artists coming through. Unfortunately, Mali today is quickly becoming a focal point of international military tension, which casts a large shadow over these important cultural developments.

I believe there is a need to create institutes of traditional music in many African countries to address these endemic problems by creating a bridge between the old world and the new. One of the crucial roles of these institutes in the wider fabric of society would be to act as a catalyst between rural traditions and disenfranchised youth who are either unaware or disconnected from their own rich cultural inheritance. These institutes, by necessity, would need to adopt a two-fold approach, which embraces and balances the preservation and dissemination of African music and culture with the development and training of a younger generation in music and the arts. For, it is the new generation that will ultimately hold the key to the future's long-term sustainability of traditional music and its related art forms.

An example of what is possible is the Jant-Bi dance academy in Senegal led by the extraordinary choreographer/dancer, Germaine Agony. She has been training young dancers from across the continent to the highest international standards in her centre for over ten years. Jant-Bi has become a cradle for dancers from the whole of Africa, where they can feel at home and benefit from professional training, giving them a solid foundation for life as an artist and creating an openness towards international dance.

So can a model such as this be applied to other art-forms in Africa such as music and the visual arts? In Zimbabwe the graphic designer and filmmaker, Safi Mafundikwa returned to his homeland after many years working and living in the states to set up the first institute for visual arts in his country. After 10 years he is still going strong but as always funding and support for these pioneers of the continent is always a struggle. It seems that so far it has taken these extraordinary individuals and their passion to draw from their personal resources to pioneer these initiatives rather than through the accountability of African governments or the AU. Perhaps if respective governments on the continent could lend their real support behind such initiatives in the future it will surely be beneficial to us all.

WINDOWS OF POSSIBILITY
I was recently asked to become involved with a newly formed symphony orchestra in Abuja, Nigeria. Right now, Nigeria is at an interesting crossroads. One could say the nation is on the cusp of a new renaissance, which can be seen in the growth of the independent film and commercial music sector with a new generation of practitioners leading the way. There is a desire for expansion and a birth of new ideas and possibilities, which is only held back by a lack of expertise in certain areas. This can be identified as the biggest challenge facing the huge untapped source and pool of talent that currently resides in Nigeria and indeed the wider continent. What is needed is an institution, or academy, to target this untapped resource and provide necessary training and skills, thereby bridging the gap between potential and its realization.

A useful model to draw from what is possible with limited resources to develop such a complex institution as a symphony orchestra can be seen with the unique success story of El Sistema in Venezuela. The results and figures speak for themselves. El Sistema is a music education program in Venezuela, founded in 1975 by economist and musician José Antonio Abreu under the name of Social Action for Music. Beginning with just a handful of children at inception the foundation now watches over 125 youth orchestras as well as the instrumental training programmes which make them possible. The organization has 31 symphony orchestras and between 310,000 to 370,000 children attend its music schools around the country. Seventy to 90 percent of the students come from poor socio-economic backgrounds. The key to this development programme is that it was internal rather than external and came from within the society itself. It was about cultural development and exchange rather than the usual mindset of charity and external assistance. It is always better to learn from cases which share a similar economic and cultural circumstance and situation. For this reason I feel models and structures developed in the West are not always useful for building institutions in 'developing countries.'

Even for a model that is tried and tested such as El Sistema, there will always have to be adaptations made to tailor to the particular needs and circumstances of the local region one is working within. Though there are many similarities culturally and historically with Venezuela and South America there are also important differences. Where they were able to use the orchestra as a central tool for their musical cultural policy, to bring together elements of their diasporic experience (from European, indigenous Indian and African influences), the form is a much more complex tool in Africa with its close cultural association with colonization. It is a matter of treading the thin line between modernisation on a world platform and the danger of leaving one's own ancestral cultural legacy behind inadvertently in the process. A balancing act of reconciling our past with our future is necessary.

We cannot run away from our past, our history so we may as well run towards it, grasp and use it to our advantage. As a result of our 'education' both equally in Africa and its diaspora over the last hundred years we are steeped in Western culture and all its inherent reference points. This in itself is not a problem as it is great to be widely versed and be able to draw from a wide pallet of influences. However, when this pre-determines our intrinsic value system, which in turn shapes our understanding and perception, we lose balance in our opinion and judgment of ourselves and our world. We no longer see ourselves in the image of the Creator and the Creator in the image of ourselves. I believe if we can simply change this we can lift many of the clouds that hang over our potentially bright future.

Africa's richest asset is its human resource. There is already a pool of talent within the continent with the will and ambition waiting to be trained and it is only a matter of supplying facilities and the expertise to realise this potential. Better still the solution to this expertise lies within our own wider community. In some parts of Africa more money is sent back to the continent from its own diaspora than in charity and world aid and yet this contribution has often gone unacknowledged and ignored as a very real tool for development. It only requires connections, dedicated networks and trust. But, which African government will be the first to really pioneer and lead such an initiative, giving it the support and infrastructure from the highest level that it would need? Could the AU provide the leadership over the next 50 years?

For me, I see a vision of African modernity, which draws from our rich cultural inheritance and traditions. It should be a 21st century African consciousness which is no longer about post-colonial or de-colonial discourse but about transcending a colonial mind-set altogether. Our existing mind-set still so often determines our daily reference points but we must move beyond. It is rather about the identification and development of a value system based on our own unique ancient principles, which have been proven to work in our favour for thousands of years. Ultimately we all need to carry our past with us into our own modernity.
Tunde Jegede is a musician who lives in London
 

China to test ‘digitized’ troops in massive drills

P Photo

China is to test its modern ‘digitized’ military units in an exercise next month. The Chinese military says developing such units is among its priorities for modernizing the armed forces.

‘Digitized’ troops are taking advantage of modern information technology to succeed on the battlefield. Integrated computerized systems are used to gather intelligence, assess the combat situation, provide communications and control the status of a unit. China sees upgrading its People's Liberation Army (PLA) with such systems as crucial for making it a smaller, yet more capable force.

In late June, two combined corps of the Beijing Military Area Command will be conducting drills at the Zhurihe training base in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, reports Xinhua news agency. 

The general staff said the exercise will focus “on combat forces including digitalized units, special operations forces, army aviation and electronic counter forces.” It would be the first publicly-announced field training of the IT-enhanced troops by China. 

While military experts have long said that digitizing its soldiers is likely to be high on China’s priorities, the PLA first admitted it to be true in April in its white paper entitled ‘The Diversified Employment of China's Armed Forces’. The document provides an overview of the country’s military capabilities and Beijing’s policies regarding their use.

Beijing is investing heavily into upgrading its military, buying or developing new types of hardware, including aircraft carriers, strategic missile submarines and advanced aircraft. The modernization is part of China’s building up political clout corresponding to its economic development. 

China is also accused by some nations, including the US, of conducting hacker operations to steal military technology. The Pentagon recently pointed fingers to Beijing, reporting that it acquired blueprints for some of America’s most sophisticated weaponry. The classified report was leaked to the media. 

Beijing denies the allegations, saying that PLA’s cyber-warfare unit created in 2011 is purely defensive in nature.

Syria’s failure to lose

The Victorious Syrian Army

By Gordon Duff

Syria has surprised everyone. They were supposed to have collapsed long ago. They didn’t, far from it. There is every indication that the Syrian government is winning what really isn’t a civil war.

Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and “others” have brought the dregs of the terrorist and criminal world into Syria and “delegitimized” moves against the government, which had once been based on real sectarian and political differences.

We now have Israeli artillery, one American nuclear “bunker-buster” and even Israeli vehicles as evidence that this is an aggression and not another “Arab Spring.”

Thus far, three Turkish F 16s and, we are told, one Israeli, have been shot down.

There is also undeniable proof, in the form of videos, that rebel forces include units involved in unspeakable acts against Syrian civilians.

BALANCE OF POWER

As Syria has done more than simply “hold on,” Russia has become emboldened. In his recent Press TV article, Jim W. Dean outlines the “game changing aspect” of the re-emergence of Russia as a naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

What is important is that America has “taken its eye off the ball.” America’s hyper-focus on Iran and the Persian Gulf has led to a drawdown of American capabilities in the Mediterranean, once considered “an American lake.”

America has pulled back from the Mediterranean, chasing oil and power, chasing globalist dreams in the Indian Ocean. Its bases, Crete, the proposed fueling depot at Port Said, the secret airbase outside Mogadishu, all abandoned.

The “neocon nightmare,” Israel as America’s “aircraft carrier” in the Middle East, or America’s “junk-yard dog,” is a policy the Obama administration now openly admits is an utter failure. That policy allowed “the tail,” Israel, to “wag the dog,” the United States, pushing America into wars intent on empowering the Likudists as rulers of that “greater Israel” they dream of.

“Greater Israel” would be paid for by three trillion US taxpayer dollars and thousands of American lives lost, hundreds of thousands damaged and a world facing economic ruin and world war.   

AMERICAN COLLAPSE

The dream of “Greater Israel,” allowing “the tail” to “wag the dog,” has been fostered by a multi-faceted attack on every aspect of America. America has been “propagandized” into self-hatred, class warfare and sectarian strife.

America has been inundated with cultural meltdown, rampant unemployment, poverty, and broad acceptance of totalitarianism and injustice as a requirement for security.

The American people are now continually reminded of the threat through carefully orchestrated false flag terror attacks, now so blatant that none can miss the intended message.

FICTION IS REALITY

Last week, America’s most popular TV drama, NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) revealed a “fictional” criminal conspiracy against the United States.

This show, seen around the world, has long featured plot lines involving Iranian terrorist and has been broadly supportive of Israel.

It now claims, fictionally of course, that the hostilities between Israel and Iran and even with North Korea are orchestrated by the CIA through false flag terrorism and assassinations.

It says that America’s aggressive actions overseas are meant to deceive its people about a more serious threat, one originating from inside the United States.

Before the Boston or Sandy Hook attacks, no television show would have been allowed to follow even a fictional story line like this. The show, Rubicon, tried it and was quickly cancelled.

American intelligence officials, in private, have expressed shock at what they see as “pre-conditioning” of the public to accept the CIA as an organization involved in domestic terrorism.

VACUUM

The timing of events in Syria has been a particular disaster for the United States. Through “sequestration,” the governments imposed austerity measures, military forces in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean have been scaled back as have other operations including intelligence gathering.

What America failed to see was the vacuum it created. “Nature abhors a vacuum.”

As America withdrew, albeit quietly, Russia reasserted its position in the Middle East, most obviously in defense of its longtime ally, Syria.

Russia has also, “albeit quietly,” made inroads into the Caucasus, the Caspian Basin and has become more aligned with Iran.

Frightening, to America at least, China is following Russia’s lead. Additionally, China is expanding economic moves throughout the region, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and throughout Africa.

With that, China’s political influence has also increased dramatically, of particular importance as Africa moves toward a cascade of terrorism, insurgency and civil wars.

THE DEATH OF THE “FALSE FLAG”

When Syria’s only visible friend was Iran, Israel’s “two stage approach,” pushing the United States into a military confrontation with Iran, most likely through a large-scale false flag attack, had a chance for success.

However, in today’s world, any terror attack is now examined with more sophistication and far more cynicism. Few are doltish enough to imagine that international terrorist groups, increasingly shown to be controlled by intelligence agencies, could operate without full complicity of powerful factions within the “victim” nations themselves.

Any “Iranian outrage” would quickly be traced back to Tel Aviv.

LEBANON AND Syria

New Russian weapons combined with enhanced capabilities for Hezbollah forces, have changed the balance of power.

Israel has spent decades, not to speak of over a billion US taxpayer dollars, fortifying the Golan Heights. It is now being used as a base of operations, both Golan and the “compromised” Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as a base of operations for Israel’s attacks on Syria.

As few now doubt the nuclear attack of May 4, 2013, even fewer doubt Israel’s forays into Syria, armor and mobile artillery, in support of rebel forces now increasingly mercenaries, terrorists and criminal elements.

Conversely, with Hezbollah holding Syria’s flank, well supplied with, not only advanced anti-armor weapons but newly upgraded shoulder launched air defense systems as well, Israel’s ability to operate against Syria from Lebanon will end.

FORTRESS GOLAN AT RISK

Israel continually talks of the threat to Tel Aviv posed by Syrian missile systems. However, the Russian Iskander system places a price tag on Israel’s actions that Israel may not be willing to pay.

The Iskandar can not only take out Patriot III batteries but can quickly cripple Israel’s armored forces and fortification on the Golan Heights.

The Iskandar is powerful, extremely accurate and impossible to stop.

Iskandar batteries, protected by S 300 air defense systems, successfully counter Israel’s air defenses and leave both armor and fortification totally vulnerable,

The most important aspect, of course, is that these are purely defensive systems.

POLITICAL CONCERNS

It is increasingly obvious that a political settlement in Syria is going to be needed. Were it not for the interference of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel, and the plotting of the NATO powers, such a settlement conference would be underway.

Too many have died and each death benefits only: Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and NATO.

What is broadly recognized is this fact; the rebel forces as they are currently configured, were they to triumph, would lead Syria into a decade of civil war, one where the current body-count, be it 50,000 or 100,000 would seem insignificant.

One might also ask why Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and their friends would back forces closely aligned with terrorism and extremism.

DOMINO EFFECT

There is little doubt that a globalist agenda is behind the war on Syria. This is only a stage in a broader war on Iran, followed by subjugation of Afghanistan (good luck with that) and a forced collapse of Pakistan.

The rationale, of course, involves oil and gas. As the planet has proven to be awash with oil and gas reserves, enough for centuries, particularly if alternative energy technologies continue to be suppressed, only total control of supply, delivery and active and criminal manipulation of market pricing structures can offer an adequate return.

Control of world currencies, the Federal Reserve System in the US, the failed financial system of the European Union and the IMF are required.

The methodologies, each representing an attack on the citizenry of the world, driven by outmoded Malthusianistic principles, are intended to deprive billions of basic human needs and, of course, any human rights as well.

It may all be turned around in Syria if the world finally awakens to the real threat. 

He who sows racism reaps hatred

UK Premiere David Cameron

 By Finian Cunningham

 “The people who did this are trying to divide us. They should know that something like this will only bring us together and make us stronger.”

These were the words of Britain’s delusional Prime Minister David Cameron speaking hours after the apparent random slaying of an off-duty soldier on the streets of London this week.

Belying Cameron’s intonations of “all together patriotism”, his cabinet called two emergency meetings in Downing Street with top national security advisers. The Cabinet Office Room Briefing Room A (Cobra) meetings are the equivalent of the White House Situation Room - reflecting an anxiety of national crisis.

But one feels that the concern among Britain’s rulers is not so much that they believe, on the basis of one brutal incident, that a “terror threat” is imminent. Would senior politicians and police officers really meet with members of the ministry of defense, MI5 and MI6 over a random stabbing in London?

What the emergency response of Britain’s national security apparatus suggests is a singular nervousness about the explosive racial tensions that are boiling in British society. Ironically, these tensions have been instigated and are reaching fever-pitch owing to the British government’s own policies of militarism, imperialist war-making and the stoking of Islamophobia over several years with “war on terror” propaganda.

The latest victim was hacked to death by two knife-wielding male assailants in front of shocked bystanders in broad daylight. One of the attackers, covered in blood and holding a knife and a meat cleaver, spoke purposely to a mobile phone camera as the young soldier lay bleeding to death nearby.

“This is an eye for an eye,” the man said, with a British accent. He has since been identified by British police as a London-born 28-year-old male of Nigerian descent.

His few words tell much. “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reasons we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We must fight them. I apologize that women had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same.”

Clearly, the attacker was motivated by revenge for Britain’s never-ending criminal foreign wars and the routine killing of Muslim civilians by British troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere. This is a truth that cannot be dismissed by glib politicians and media.

Within hours of the murder, British rightwing thugs were on the streets of London and other cities baying for blood. Near the scene of the soldier’s killing, in Woolwich, southeast London, hundreds of riot police were clashing with crowds from the English Defence League who chanted: “No surrender to the Muslim scum.”

Urging followers to take the law into their own hands, an EDL spokesman said: “Enough is enough. We have weak leaders. Our police, our leaders tip-toe around this.”

Elsewhere in Britain, two mosques were attacked in Essex and Kent, apparently in revenge for the killing of the soldier in London. In one of those incidents, a man was reportedly armed with a knife and an incendiary device.

While the slaying of the British soldier in London made international headlines, by contrast the countless attacks, and often-fatal assaults, against British Muslims, Asians and Africans that occur in Britain on a daily basis are scarcely reported.

The Institute of Race Relations has compiled hundreds of such attacks on innocent people by white British racist gangs. Often the motive is driven by rabid hatred of “Muslims”. The IRR reports of Asian and African teenagers being attacked in the streets with knives and screwdrivers, elderly people beaten savagely to death, homes and mosques being targeted and terrorized.

This is the incendiary political climate that has descended on Britain today, where fascist paramilitary gangs and rabid individuals carry out wanton attacks on defenseless citizens simply on the basis that the victim is perceived as Muslim or non-white.

Tragically, following the deadly assault on the British soldier in London we can expect a hundred-fold increase in the routine racist reign of terror that Asians and Africans have to endure on a daily basis in British towns and cities.

British Conservative premier David Cameron may appear to be talking with an English stiff-upper lip of how “this will only bring us together and make us stronger”. But he is delusional. British society, fuelled by economic collapse, is a tinderbox of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said following the soldier’s murder: “It is completely wrong to blame this killing on the religion of Islam. But it also equally wrong to try to draw any link between this murder and British foreign policy or the actions of British forces [overseas].”

The London Mayor is as equally deluded as his Conservative Party leader. Of course, it is reprehensible to blame this week’s street killing of a British soldier with Islam. However, try telling that to the mobs of English racists who are now baying for Muslim blood to add to their already daily attacks on Muslims and others. And on his second point, the London Mayor is also in absurd denial of reality.

How else do racist mobs in Britain get their bloodlust and blind hatred, when they see British governments sending troops, drones and helicopter gun-ships into Muslim countries to murder en masse and with impunity?

British society is reaping the racist hatred that its rulers have been sowing for years. No wonder Cameron is chairing emergency meetings with his security agents.

   

Why women smoke

By the mid-1920s smoking had become commonplace in the United States and cigarette tobacco was the most popular form of tobacco consumption. At the same time women had just won the right to vote, widows were succeeding their husbands as governors of such states as Texas and Wyoming, and more were attending college and entering the workforce. While women seemed to be making great strides in certain areas, socially they still were not able to achieve the same equality as their male counterparts. Women were only permitted to smoke in the privacy of their own homes. Public opinion and certain legislation at the time did not permit women to smoke in public, and in 1922 a woman from New York City was arrested for lighting a cigarette on the street.

George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco Company and an eccentric businessman, recognized that an important part of his market was not being tapped into. Hill believed that cigarette sales would soar if he could entice more women to smoke in public.

“Cigarette sales would soar if [they] could entice women to smoke in public”

In 1928 Hill hired Bernays to expand the sales of his Lucky Strike cigarettes. Recognizing that women were still riding high on the suffrage movement, Bernays used this as the basis for his new campaign. He consulted Dr. A.A. Brill, a psychoanalyst, to find the psychological basis for womens smoking. Dr. Brill determined that cigarettes which were usually equated with men, represented torches of freedom for women. The event caused a national stir and stories appeared in newspapers throughout the country. Though not doing away with the taboo completely, Bernays’s efforts had a lasting effect on women smoking.

Garbage man gene could prolong life

A team of researchers in the United States has discovered that higher levels of a gene called parkin extend the life span and maintain health in fruit flies.

On Monday, the researchers said that a gene, which behaves like a garbage man by disposing of damaged materials in cells, had increased the life spans of fruit flies and may open new windows in dealing with human aging.

The study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that higher levels of the gene helped fruit flies live 28 percent longer and remain healthy.

"Just by increasing the levels of parkin, they live substantially longer while remaining healthy, active and fertile," said lead author Anil Rana, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"That is what we want to achieve in aging research -- not only to increase their life span but to increase their health span as well," Rana added.

Parkin is believed to be influential in removing damaged mitochondria from the cells.

Further study may show whether the human lifespan can be extended from higher levels of parkin, which marks damaged proteins so that cells can discard them before they become toxic.

"Our research may be telling us that parkin could be an important therapeutic target for neurodegenerative diseases and perhaps other diseases of aging," said senior author David Walker, an associate professor of integrative biology and physiology at UCLA.

It has been hypothesized that parkin plays a role in the development of Parkinson's disease, which typically develops in older adults.

"Instead of studying the diseases of aging one by one -- Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes -- we believe it may be possible to intervene in the aging process and delay the onset of many of these diseases," Walker added.

"We are not there yet, and it can, of course, take many years, but that is our goal," he stated.