Comments on: Lucky Dube and the choice for Africa

By: whythawk

whythawk — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:19:20 +0000

There are an awful lot of super-talented, reasonably famous people in the world … and most of them don’t have Britney Spears-style super-egos to go with it.

So, I suppose it could almost be said to be unusual if more of them didn’t have experiences (like car accidents, etc) that happen to the rest of us.

Still, Dube’s murder is only the most high-profile death to crime in a long line of death’s to crime that happen here. I don’t think it will, but I hope, that it makes the state more aware of the anger that ordinary people feel towards the ineffectiveness of our police “service”.

By: Jim Booth

Jim Booth — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:12:43 +0000

This just seems crazy to me, Gavin – the equivalent of waking up one morning and hearing that someone had shot Michael Stipe at a traffic light.

It says something deeper, though – that a man like Dube was out driving his own car rather than being chauffeured around by Blackwater style guards like most western music stars makes him even more impressive – and his tragic murder even more poignant.

By: Russ Wellen

Russ Wellen — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:22:59 +0000

You haven’t left and settled elsewhere. You deserve a lot of credit for staying when you don’t have to.

By: whythawk

whythawk — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 08:33:04 +0000

Russ, I agree about the Belgians in the Congo. But how is that different from what the Japanese did in the Philippines or China during WWII?

And “more than free choice”? There is virtually no free choice in the majority of African states other than the one that most Africans with talent exercise: the ability to leave and settle elsewhere.

I’ve planned a post for a while on the nature of African self-destruction. It is an attempt to “flesh that out”, but – as yet – without any path to rectitude, which can be somewhat unsatisfying.

By: Russ Wellen

Russ Wellen — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 04:35:12 +0000

God, it’s sad to hear about Lucky Dube.

As far as what makes Africans self-destructive. . .

I recently read “King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa,” as readable a history book as you’ll ever find. The crimes King Leopold committed in the Congo are almost unimaginable.

Western oppression was so overwhelming, that you might just as well ask why other groups the West has subjugated like American blacks or Native Americans have — if not on the spectacular scale of Africans — demonstrated self-destructiveness.

As for the cause, we need more than free choice. Can you flesh that out, WH?

By: Lou

Lou — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:30:32 +0000

re:the continent
I wouldn’t call this an excuse.
Africa has every problem that there is, but one stands out currently more than others.

http://aids.about.com/cs/aidsfactsheets/a/africa.htm

By: elaine

elaine — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:36:09 +0000

“The reason for my silence over the past two months is that I was hired to conduct research into the health sector across Africa and analyse the situation. It is dire.”

Thank you for your explanation. S & R was poorer for the lack of your posts.

Keep up the good work…voice in the wilderness…

By: Sam Smith

Sam Smith — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:01:16 +0000

Thank you for tackling this a lot better than I could have hoped to. I was going to observe that South Africa is apparently a dangerous place to be a musician. Dudu Zulu was gunned down and so was Headman Shabalala. I'm no expert, but I imagine there were more. Sad day...

By: nokomisjeff

nokomisjeff — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:12:47 +0000

Great post.

Jeff