In Mali it could be Diarre,
In Burkina Coulibaly.
Masters of mud,
Making bogolanfini.
Wrapper for a woman,
For a man a dashiki.
Colours of the earth,
Of cultural identity.
Expertise with mud,
Studied in academy.
Created also,
In the country called Ivory.
Where they call it Korhogo,
Symbols of literacy.
Guinea fowl and crocodile,
Inner beauty and fertility.
The wonder of mud,
In three West African countries.
Where every mud cloth,
Reveals it's unique story.

© Natty Mark Samuels, 2012.

To celebrate the African novel and its adaptability and resilience, Kwani Trust announces a one-off new literary prize for African writing. The Kwani? Manuscript Project calls for the submission of unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora. The prize seeks fresh, original work that explores and challenges the possibilities of the novel.

The top 3 manuscripts will be awarded cash prizes:
1st Prize: 300,000 KShs (equivalent to $3500)
2nd Prize: 150,000 KShs
3rd Prize: 75,000 KShs

In addition Kwani? will publish manuscripts from across the shortlist and longlist, including the three winning manuscripts, as well as partnering with regional and global agents and publishing houses to create high profile international publication opportunities.

Winners will be announced in December 2012 at the Kwani? Litfest.

For more information go to:

Submission Guidelines:

• Deadline 17th September 2012.
• Word count 60,000-120,000 words
• Submissions should be adult literary or genre fiction (in the sense of not being ‘children’s fiction’)
• The work should be in English or ‘Englishes’
• The manuscript must be ‘new’ in the sense that it is ‘unpublished in book form’ (we will accept previously published submissions if circulation has been under 500 copies and limited to one national territory)
• Eligible participants should have at least one parent born in an African country who holds citizenship of the same
• Please send submissions by email, attached as a WORD doc to [email][email protected]

Drum Rider, by Shailja Patel, a tribute to Zanzibari musical legend Bi Kidude, was first published in Pambazuka News. Patel's performance of Drum Rider at the recent TED global talent search brought a Vancouver audience to its feet, and is being avidly shared across the internet. Watch at:

The UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, controversially endowed by Equatorial Guinea, was finally awarded in Paris 17 July, after years of wrangling and postponements. The three prize winners - from Egypt, Mexico and South Africa - each received US$100,000 from Equatorial Guinea's vice president, Ignacio Milam Tang, amid speculation about whether the country's dictatorial president, and the prize's original funder, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, would attend in person (he did not).

'The main role of #SudanRevolts is to provide a strong unified brand for communicating the Sudanese revolution, which in turn is made up of various groups and individuals that include youth groups, university students, women groups, and recently trade unions have been joining too. The most remarkable aspect of this revolt is that it attracted even individual citizens who suffer day in and day out from the regime's repeated failures, corruption and brutality,' says Rawa Gafar Bakhit, representing Sudan Change Now, in this interview on the website.

UNESCO’s decision to issue a controversial prize sponsored by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea is disappointing and irresponsible, seven civil society groups said. A ceremony to award the prize was scheduled for July 17, 2012, in Paris. Obiang, in power for 33 years, leads a government known for corruption and repression.

A review of Ali Kazimi’s new book (Douglas & McIntyre, 2012; $39.95)

A review of Michel Roger Emvana’s Paul Biya: Les secrets du pouvoirs. Paris: Karthala. 2005. 290pp.Paper Back $58.45. 2-84586-684-4

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/Orengo_suit.edit.jpg

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/Trouble_in_Congo.edit.jpg

Dr. Gary K. Busch, de nacionalidade norte-americana, é especialista em política africana e possui vasto conhecimento em negócios nesse continente. Além da experiência como professor e responsável por Departamento na Universidade do Havaí, ele presta consultoria a várias companhias de transporte e logística que operam em escala mundial. Ele foi igualmente Diretor de Pesquisa em importante sindicato norte-americano e Secretário Geral Assistente de uma organização sindical internacional. O site francês Terangaweb o entrevistou com vistas a sólida análise baseada em experiência prática.

http://pambazuka.org/images/Barclays_Scandal.edit.jpg

Nigeria’s Rotimi Babatunde has won the 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa’s leading literary award, for his short story entitled ‘Bombay's Republic’ from 'Mirabilia Review' Vol. 3.9 (Lagos, 2011).

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/govt_productivity.jpg

The tribal wisdom of the Plains Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that: "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse's performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And, of course...

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

(English version)

It is me, Masese

Now am coming from Bundo

Look how my body smeared with ebundo* is shining

Am going to the battlefield with a hummer

I have carried with me a spear and a mallet

I have come as a warrior

With warrior spears

Belongings and the spirit of warriors

Listen to the way I play the Obokano*

Trumpets and flutes

I will not close my eyes even if it’s misty

So misty and clumsy like heavy sounds of trumpets

Even if you pierce my waist with a spear-chigi!*
I will sway and fight like grass

On a mountain against strong winds

I come

Wearing clothes like moving stream of water

Now, stand over there and watch, don’t move closer

Look! The way I am preparing shields

Put them down to cover the soil like heavy drops of rain

One man army, one man government

I am the only son like the eye

Even if you trouble me, I can hide in a basket

And come out with a dagger

If we wrestle I will defeat you, like it is a wedding

Weaken you, make you wither before they come to separate us

Before we hold hands and fight

I and you will not draw

I burn like fire glowing from ekerende* and esasi*

Grow and spread further like Emanga* and Esameta* ranges

Grow and spread so you can play pianos- Nda! Nda! Nda!*

Don’t be jealous you may walk naked

Then you burst – NDA!

If someone troubles you,

Don’t worry yourself too much

Be silent and look for a piano

Or go to your bed and sleep -NDA!

END NOTES

1. Ebundo – a type of paint made from some specific soils and clay that was used as a kind of body protection from dirt or in ceremonies

2. Obokano - an eight-stringed harp from the Gusii people of western Kenya

3. Chigi - the sound made by a spear when it pierces flesh

4. Ekerende and esasi - these was a traditional tools of making fire by using a dry wood,ekerende, with a stick to drill; esasi is dry leaves mixed with dry dung that is fed to the spot of contact between the wood and the stick.

5. Emanga and Esameta are two great ranges in Gusiiland and normally people are told to spread out (grow) and produce like the two ranges

6. Nda - the sound of music/strings, largely onomatopoeic here

*Dennis Dancan Mosiere aka Grandmaster Masese is a poet, musician, actor, writer/editor, human rights educator and a Fahamu Pan African fellow for Social Justice

I remember the days

when you hold a jar of water

A metal gong

Then you shout that our ancestors must be called

they must be heard

You shout,

CALL THEM! CALL THEM!

Yes we call them

our ancestors

I guess they cheer

our ambition to reunite with them

these lines are a sign

that, like libation,

my soul is yearning

for liberation

unity of mankind

spirituality, may we free our minds

Celebrating victory in Egypt's presidential elections.

Twenty years of Rio: Assessing the progress.

President Morsi's pledge of service to all is quite sincere, isn't it?

East Africa’s music videos periodically engage in regressive gender politics. But one could still trace female agency and empowerment and immediately begin to counter notions of male dominance.