Month: Feb 2006

Ex Africa …. I don’t think so!

Le Frog Blog said it –

once you start a blog, you can’t really control where it goes

. The expression of vague emotions, thoughts, beliefs & ideas is not easy & the written form is usually some distance from the original thought.
I have recently been pursued by a tension relating to a hankering for a clear identity. Tension created by familiar discomfort. My siblings and their extended families are in Africa. I and my family are in the South Pacific. When the world is called to war, who do I side with? When I die where do I wish my dust to feed roses? When my daughter marries, where should it be?
I know what I want to be – I want to be an African, but how can I be if I live in the South Pacific? I’m just not brave enough to do the reverse migration bit – it was harrowing getting here! I can easily respect the flag & laws of my adopted country – any way Africa is a matter of geography & emotion, not political affiliation. Perhaps it is a matter of which language you spoke first. I spoke Swazi.
Mind you I am also an Irish citizen and feel quite Irish (wish I had a brogue). Well, the African diaspora begins to resemble the Irish one …
But if I win the Lotto …. I will go home, (I think).

Rack your brains, peacelovers …. (and zip your lips!!)

Greetings Fellow ranters and observers!
I surmise … even vaguely fear … that the world is on the edge of some ghastly global conflict.
The polarisation along traditional Western & Middle Eastern lines with significant religious and colour delineation clearly identify the main parties (the Arabs & the Aryans?? oil-rich & the oil poor?? the former colonisers & the formerly colonised??)
My grandfather (Boer War & WW1) and an uncle (WW2, Malaya etc) were professional soldiers, my father and other uncles were WW2 soldiers, I was a convoy escort in a small bush war in the 70’s. The chances that my children will not be called to serve are dwindling.
Once differences are identified …. it becomes us & them, compromise & middle ground diminish. Conscientious objectors fail to support the cause & just hamper the propaganda of the right side, so Pollyanna ranters & Necktie revolutionaries will be conscripted, interned or shot. Freedoms become unsustainable distractions.
I understand that! Speed, centralisation & efficiency of decision making are essential at such times. War is the way of all animals including mankind. Civilisation merely increases the scope of conflict and its attendant horrors …
What bleak thoughts & such a lack of faith in the power of love!
So how do we shut up the free speakers & cartoonists & flag burners & building bombers to allow the peacemakers to expand the compromise??